The Intern
by fucksgiving
Summary: Piper Chapman is beginning the summer of her Sophomore year with an internship at Hermann Engineering, following in her father's footsteps. She will be shadowing none other then Alex Vause. Has she chosen the right path? First fanfic so bear with me, advice/requests/criticism is appreciated so I know if I should keep going with this!
1. Chapter 1

Piper blew a tuft of her blonde bangs out of her eyes and looked up at the tall glass building towering over her, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. Silently praying to a god she didn't entirely believe in not to make an ass out of herself, she made her way to the revolving door. She was 45 minutes early, and without a keycard (which she would receive today), the 17th floor wouldn't work until 8AM. It was the first day of her internship at the Hermann Engineering company today, and she was terrified that she would ruin it on the first day. The office was in Bellevue and she lived in Seattle, so it was about a 30 minute bus ride from her apartment across the I-90 bridge. She didn't have a car, which wasn't to say she couldn't afford one, but she enjoyed walking and the city infinite means of transportation so she felt it unnecessary.

As she sat and sipped on her Starbucks, Piper watched busy men and women waiting for the elevators while they checked their watches and smartphones, as if that would make them arrive more quickly. Old men chatting with their coworkers that they had probably known for years, hungover young aduklts playing Candy Crush on their iPhones, and middle aged businessmen that wore expensive suits passed her while she sat in the firm chair in the elevator lobby. She stood up when the clock on her phone read 7:59, awkwardly pacing for a full 60 seconds before calling the elevator.

Piper was studying Mechanical Engineering at Seattle University, one of the lucky few to get an internship in the summer following her sophomore year while her classmates worked at coffee shops and gift shops around the city. Maybe _lucky_ wasn't the right word to explain her situation. Her father, Bill, had been working at Hermann for 18 years now, since she was 1 year old, and he had gotten her the internship. Nevertheless, she was here and ready to follow in her father's large footsteps, or at least find out if she had declared the right major. It certainly didn't hurt that she would be making 20 dollars an hour, either. Her parents had always helped her out financially, but they wanted her to have the real college experience. _We want you to struggle, not suffer,_ they reminded her as they gave her a monthly allowance for food and bus passes. It would be a nice change to be able to go out to dinner or go shopping downtown on weekends.

Bill worked at Hermann as an electrical engineer, who typically made more money than mechanicals, but Piper had trouble wrapping her head around circuits and went with mechanical when she enrolled at Seattle U. Bill rarely came into the office, taking travel jobs whenever they were offered, maybe to get the free air miles but probably to get away from Carol, Piper's mother. He was currently flying alternating weeks to Indianapolis and New York City with his boss (who was also Piper's boss now) for two separate jobs, so he wouldn't be around while she was interning this summer.

The doors opening tore her from her thoughts and she exited the elevator, taking quick steps and almost tripping in the heels she had so thoughtfully decided to wear when planning her outfit. She figured they were the most fitting shoes to go with the black slacks and white button up blouse she wore. She had been to the office a few times to see her father and knew this was an appropriate outfit, so at least this was one less thing that could go horribly wrong.

The elevator let her out directly in front of the receptionist, who did a good job pretending she didn't see the blonde stumble her way out of the elevator like a drunk person stepping out of a cab.

"Piper?" The older blonde woman asked. Her tone was friendly and familiar and made the girl a little less nervous.

"Hi... Yes." Piper cringed at how awkward she sounded. "Are you Linda? I'm supposed to find Linda."

"Yep, that's me," the woman responded, "we're going to go through the orientation in the conference room." She nodded her head in the direction of a set of double doors to Piper's left.

"There's one more new fire so we'll wait for him to get started."

Piper smiled at the woman and made her way into the room, taking a seat in front of a flatscreen that must have been at least 80 inches. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a while before Linda walked in followed by who she assumed was the other new hire. He was probably in his early 30s, wearing a checkered dress shirt tucked into a pair of khaki slacks. He seemed as nervous as her, if not more, which made her feel a little better. She figured all of her temporary coworkers would be middle aged men with lacking social skills, because honestly, people like that made up a large part of the engineering community. They watched a couple videos that were probably made in the early '90s and filled out some paperwork before Linda informed Piper that she was finished and handed her a keycard with her name on it. As an intern, there wasn't much paperwork she needed to do.

Her father told her to find Nicole when she arrived, one of his fellow electrical engineers. He described her as _a little much sometimes, but she means well._ Piper slowly walked toward the main area of the office, packed with cubicles and whiteboards, bookshelves full of thick dusty books containing ASME codes and outdated methods. She started to feel her heart rate go up.

 _What am I supposed to do, just walk around until I find someone named Nicole? Does she even know I'm going to be here today? Nobody prepared me for this shit._

Before she could freak herself out too much, she hear a loud voice coming from the hall to her left.

"Chapman!" She whipped her hear around to see a wild head of hair on a woman shorter than her. "Walk with me."

The woman continued down the hallway, cubicles lining the left side and more bookshelves on the right. Piper had to almost run despite her legs being probably at least 6 inches longer than the other woman's.

"Are you Nicole?" She asked timidly from behind the woman. Piper almost walked right into her as the woman came to an abrupt stop. The blonde immediately regretted asking, wondering to herself if she should know this woman, praying she didn't just completely insult someone important.

"Your dad is an asshole. Call me Nicky, or Nichols, or anything except Nicole."

"Oh... I'm sorry - I didn't know..." Piper started apologizing for something she wasn't even sure she owed the woman an apology for. It wasn't like she knew what name she preferred. Before she could get her thoughts together the woman started walking again and brought them to a large kitchen area littered with tabled topped with magazines, newspapers, and decks of cards. To her left was a tray of snack foods with prices listed on a large jar, some sort of honor bar like she had in her shared dorm kitchen during her first year of college.

Nicky went straight to the fridge, browsing as if she were at a grocery store.  
"Bingo!" She exclaimed loudly, causing Piper to jump a little, as she grabbed a cup of yogurt from the fridge. "Always label your food, Chapman. Or don't, but then I'll just eat it."

As Nicky pulled the lid off the yogurt and licked it, Piper clearly saw that someone actually _had_ scrawled their initials on the yogurt lid with a thick Sharpie. AV, the tinfoil read, clearly not Nicky's initials.

"But that has-" She was cut off by Nicky who had just crumpled up the lid and threw it like a basketball toward the trashcan, missing by at least a foot.

"So your dad asked me to show you around before Vause shoes up. She's in your department, so she's going to be giving work and helping you out. If you were smart, you would have chosen electrical and I would be giving you work," she shook her head, feigning disappointment. "Alright, let's get this show on the road. Vause will show you your desk later." She grabbed a spoon and AV's yogurt and walked out of the kitchen ahead of Piper.

They walked around the maze of cubicles, Nicky repeatedly introducing Piper as _Bill's daughter_ or _Chapman's spawn_ causing most of them to make a lame joke, either apologizing that she had to deal with him or joking that she was the reason he signed up for all of the out of state jobs for the summer. It seemed like Nicky was the joker of the office, Piper concluded, as she watched the woman pitching shit at nearly everyone she spoke to. They finally reached Vause's cubicle. It looked like she had already been here today, but she wasn't present. It was neat but cluttered at the same time. She had two Hermann coffee cups, one packed with green, blue, red, and black pens similar to what she had seen on her father's desk when she was younger, and another fill of pencils and highlighters. Her two large monitors were full of programs; AutoCAD on the larger screen with complicated line work littering the window, and the other screen was packed with emails that Piper didn't read out of respect for the woman. The walls, made out of some sort of corkboard covered on fabric, had a couple images of two black haired woman, but were mostly covered in certificates and awards. A plaque on the shelf above the monitors read "2014 Hermann Fantasy Super Bowl Winner", collecting dust along with a football crammed full of signatures. Her desk wrapped around the corner of the large cubicle. with an opening that perfectly fit a smaller chair for when she was working with other people.

She heard the woman's husky voice before she saw her.

"Nichols, can you at least try to be sneaky when you steal my food?" Piper looked up to see a tall, black haired woman throwing her hands up at Nicky. She wore a simple pair of black framed glasses, a pencil skirt, tall heels, and a white shirt similar to Piper's. She had an irritated look on her face before looking at the blonde and shaking her head with a smile. Nicky shrugged and walked away without introducing the two or saying a word to the black haired woman.

Piper looked at the woman again, watching her stare down the woman who had given her the tour.

"You're Bill's daughter?" The woman confirmed, looking at the blonde with bright green eyes. She nodded her response quickly, averting her eyes to the floor. This woman made her nervous, she didn't expect hot tall women with sexy glasses and jet black hair, she expected middle aged balding men that only respected her because her father was their superior.

"Alex." The woman said her name confidently. "Did the troll doll give you a tour?" She asked with a small smile, clearly picking up on how shy Piper was being. It worked, as a small giggle left Piper's lips before she answered.

"Kind of... She said you would show me my cubicle?" Piper wasn't sure why she made it sound like a question, Nicky had most definitely told her the woman would show her to her cubicle.

She hear Alex mutter something about Nichols being lazy before walking out of the cubicle.

"You're right here." She was standing in the cubicle directly connected to hers, a short wall separating the two of them. Piper couldn't help but be excited, this woman was just plain sexy and she would be sitting next to her all summer, working alongside her.

She looked around the cubicle; it was like a smaller version of Alex's, with two monitors, her keyboard and mouse ,and a phone being the only things on her desk. The woman went back to her cubicle and grabbed the spare chair, bringing it over to Piper's new desk.

"I'm gonna have to help you set everything up. Usually IT does this but I'll just take care of it." She pulled out the blonde's office chair and motioned for her to take a seat in front of the computer before plopping herself in the chair she brought over, and Piper couldn't help but notice she smelled delicious, like vanilla and something else she couldn't place. The brunette had a sticky note on her finger and stick it to the bottom of the monitor.

"This is your login into, it'll make you change your password in a couple hours."

Piper carefully typed her username (pchapman) and her password, which was a string of numbers and letters.

"Okay, so open up your email. It's linked to the phones and this messaging program," She leaned in and pointed to an icon on the screen, "So you can see if someone is online, or if they're in a meeting or on a call."

She helped Piper set up her voicemail, scooting closer so she could reach the buttons on the phone, and the girl couldn't help but lean closer to her, pretending she was trying to see what the woman was doing. Alex patiently showed the blonde how to map all of the network drives and created shortcuts to the most useful folders. Alex explained that while IT installed programs she couldn't be logged into her computer, so she would get her stocked up on office supplies.

They leisurely walked to the copy room and Alex prompted the blonde to open her arms as she went through cabinets, thoughtfully selecting graph paper, a ruler, a couple notepads, sticky notes, and some pens and pencils.

"What is your favorite color?" She asked while looking through the various jars of pens with narrowed eyes.

"Umm.. Purple?" Still stuck in the mindset that she needed to question her own every move. Alex simply smiled and grabbed two extra purple pens and set them in the girls arms, closing the cabinet doors as she smirked at the girl struggling to carry the various office supplies in her thin arms. Alex followed Piper back to her cubicle, picking up a good handful of pencils and rubber bands that the blonde dropped like breadcrumbs behind her.

They emptied the supplies on Piper's desk before Alex looked around and raised a finger as if to say _hold on_ and vanished out of the cubicle. Piper heard something being dropped onto Alex's desk and she reemerged with one of her Hermann cups, placing it on the girls desk and filling it with pens and pencils.

"Alright," She turned to see Piper's grin and returned it before continuing, "Chris should be done installing everything and Linda said you have to do online training for the rest of the day. It's pretty boring but everyone has to do it. You can just listen to music and skim along. If you need anything, you know where I sit." And with that, the fascinating woman was gone. But not really, because Piper couldn't help but constantly remind herself that she was right on the other side of that wall.

She looked around her new space for a few moments before jumping at the sound of her phone ringing. She slowly picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" She asked timidly, assuming someone dialed the wrong number.

"Hey," she heard the husky voice beside her and through the phone at the same time. "I just wanted to make sure I didn't mess up your phone when I set up the voicemail. Is everything going okay?"

"Yeah, it's good. Thank you for helping me." She was excited to hear that Alex just called her to check on her, even though they were right next to each other. She smiled as Alex told her _don't have too much fun over there_ before hanging up and returning her focus to the monitor.

She couldn't stop herself from removing her headphones and listening in as Alex made some phone calls, hearing the woman call people to inform them of mistakes they had made, sometimes politely and sometimes clearly frustrated with the person on the other line. She heard one phone call at around 11:45 a little more clearly, catching a few full lines of Alex's side of the conversation.

"Well, if it isn't the yogurt thief."

...

"Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna see if she wants to go out to lunch anyways."

Piper's heart rate sped up, silently praying that Alex was talking about her.

"Who do you think?"

...

"I guess, but I'm not buying you lunch after you ate mine."

A ball of paper flew across the room and landed in Piper's lap, making her jump.

"You missed, asshole," The blonde heard the click of the phone being placed back into its cradle followed by Alex's chair rolling away from her desk. The woman appeared seconds later, forearm resting high on the wall of the blondes cubicle as she leaned in.

"Wanna get some lunch?" The blonde couldn't help the huge grin that broke out on her face as she nodded eagerly and stood up, the ball of paper falling out of her lap.

"Here," Alex held out her hand, wanting the ball of paper. Piper dropped it into her hand and she peeked over the cubicle wall before tossing it in Nicky's direction. Her aim was dead on and the ball of paper was stuck in Nicky's hair as her head shot up above her cubicle wall.

Nicky lead the way confidently, taking them to a deli right across the street. Alex ended up paying for all of them, including Nicky. The three of them sat at a table near the window, Alex and Piper eating sandwiches while Nicky scarfed down a huge burger.

"So what do you think so far?" Alex asked through a mouthful of her sandwich. Usually Piper hated when people talked with their mouth full, but she couldn't find anything gross about this woman.

"It's nice," Piper said, sipping her water. "I mean it's hard to tell since I've been doing training."

"Yeah, it would be much more fun if you were electrical. We're way cooler." Nicky said with a grin, it seemed like there was some sort of playful rivalry between different types of engineers here. Alex rolled her eyes and Piper quickly bantered back.

"I wouldn't want to stick my finger in a socket like you seem to have done."

Alex let out a loud laugh, causing Piper to break out in a huge grin at the fact that she just made this beautiful woman laugh.

"Wow Chapman, that's cold." Nicky was already done with her burger and loudly scooted her chair back. "I'm gonna have a smoke, you guys are kind of assholes." She playfully shoved Alex's shoulder and walked outside, leaving the two alone.

"Training will take the rest of the day, but tomorrow I'll get you started on the good stuff."

With that, the two went back to the office and Piper spent the rest of the day trying to hold in her excitement.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

 **Once again, thanks for the reviews and follows and favorites! Seriously, thanks. All of the email addresses and phone numbers in this story are completely made up so please don't use them. I mean, you can, but it'll be awkward for you and the recipient.**

 **I'm going to try to stay on top of updating this story but I'll probably get a little slower when school starts back up.**

Day 2

Piper arrived just before 8:00, able to use her new keycard to get to the 17th floor without waiting. She smiled at Linda as she got off the elevator more gracefully this time. It took her a few minutes to remember where to go, but she eventually made her way to her cubicle and logged in to her computer. She figured she would check her email before finding Alex, just in case she started to seem too eager. When she opened her email she saw that she had 2 unread emails. One was from her father, which she opened first, asking if she was settled in and had any questions. She typed out a short and sweet response telling him everything was okay and sent it off. It was then that she noticed who the second email was from.

 **From: Vause, Alex (avause )**

 **Subject: Let's get this party started**

 **Recieved: June 30th, 2015 7:32:00 AM**

 **Piper,**

 **I've got a couple things you can get started on. Come find me when you get here and we can get to work.**

 **Alex Vause, PE, MBA, ENVISION SP**

 **Mechanical Engineer**

 **Hermann Engineering Co.**

 **Tel: (425) 450-7221**

 **Cell: (206) 393-8652**

Piper read the email 3 times and grinned, excited to start working with Alex. She couldn't help but stare at the cell phone number in Alex's email signature even though she knew it wasn't specifically for her. She quickly stood up and walked to peek around the corner and into the brunettes cubicle. Alex had her headphones in playing loud music and didn't notice Piper, who awkwardly walked up behind her and gingerly tapped her shoulder.

"Fuck," Alex said under her breath, pulling her headphones out and turning to see the blonde. "Sorry, you scared me."

Piper couldn't bite back her smile as she quietly apologized. Alex placed her hands flat on the desk on either side of the keyboard and stood up.

"Alright kid, let's put you to work."

They made their way to Piper's cubicle, Alex leading with chair in tow.

"I'm gonna try to give you work that actually uses what you've learned at school so far, but let me know if you get lost. I don't want to bore you." Piper silently nodded as the brunette grabbed the mouse and opened one of the folders she had made a shortcut to the previous day. She navigated through folders and windows with agility, typing keywords into search bars faster than the blonde could even read what she was typing. She finally paused while waiting for a program to open and glanced at Piper who was wide eyed, wondering how on earth she would ever be able to find these files again. As if reading her mind, Alex let out a short laugh before calming the girl.

"Don't worry, I'll make more shortcuts to the stuff you need, and you'll get used to the lack of organization here. Just make sure you don't save anything into the public folders or it'll be deleted over the weekends."

Piper let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, immediately relaxed by these simple words.

"Thanks." She replied quietly, getting the feeling she either sounded like a total asshole or a shy little girl. She just didn't want to make an ass out of herself by rambling like she tended to do so often.

The program opened and Alex looked back at the screen, but Piper's eyes remained on her, taking in the profile of the enticing woman next to her. She felt so naive for having this schoolgirl crush on a woman knowing full well it would never go anywhere. _But she's so fucking hot. And nice. And smart..._

"Piper?" Alex was looking at her with a bemused expression.

 _Well, it finally happened. I made an ass out of myself. That didn't take long._ Alex had been talking while she blatantly stared at the side of her face. She wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for the rest of the day.

"Sorry? I kind of spaced out." She replied, trying to play it cool and pretend not to notice the smirk on Alex's face.

"Have you used AutoCAD before?" Alex repeated the question that she clearly didn't hear the first time.

"I used it a couple times at school." Her response was short again and she was internally kicking herself for having awful social skills.

"Do you know the basics? You just need to change the titles of these sheet files. The ones with M in the bottom over here..." She pointed to the screen with a slender finger, "are all mechanical drawings. If there's an E, that's electrical, an A is for architectural, C is for civil, and S is for structural. They changed the title of the job so you just need to fix it on these mechanical sheets. It'll help you get the hang of things before we get into some more complicated stuff."

Piper nodded quickly, "Yeah, I think I can do that. I mean, it's been a while but I kind of remember."

"Have a seat and give it a shot before I leave in case you need help." The brunette stood and squeezed by Piper in the small cubicle, sending a the blondes pulse through the roof. She briefly considered pretending she didn't know what to do so the woman wouldn't leave, but quickly decided that was ridiculous. She nervously sat in the chair and looked at the screen, then at Alex awaiting instructions on what to change. Alex leaned over her, still standing, and pointed at the screen. Piper was sure she could hear her heart beating against her ribs, especially after she smelled that vanilla scent again.

"So you're going to take the title off this sheet..." She reached for the mouse, brushing Piper's hand, which, she tried to act like she didn't notice. "And copy it over to the rest of them. Then just delete the old title and you're good to go."

Piper copied Alex's actions perfectly and looked up at her, waiting for a response.

"Perfect. There's like 20 mechanical sheets total so you only have to do 18 more. Just make sure you zoom to extents and save each one, then let me know when you're done."

With that, she walked back to her own cubicle, leaving Piper to bask in the glory of the word _perfect_ being used to describe something she did by this irresistible woman. She finished the talk in less than half an hour. Piper was a very smart girl but she lacked confidence, and it showed. Alex was on the phone when Piper approached, but she did notice her this time. She looked pretty unhappy, Piper thought, but when she turned to see who was there she tilted her head to the side with a crooked grin. The person on the other end of the phone was still talking and she tilted her head to the other side and rolled her eyes. Piper giggled as she watched Alex make faces and flip off the receiver before finishing her conversation.

"Just please update your schedule so we can get the next set turned in." She ended the call before turning to look at Piper with that smile again. "Oh the lovely people we get to deal with. Anyways, do you need help changing the titles?"

"No, umm... I'm done, I think." Piper said hesitantly, watching two perfectly sculpted eyebrows raise on Alex's face.

"Already? Lemme see." She stood and walked behind Piper around the cubicle wall and checked each drawing on the girls computer. "Damn, not bad kid. I might need to give you some harder stuff or you'll have to come get me every half hour."  
 _I would have absolutely no problem with that at all,_ she thought with a small smile.

"Thanks," she murmured, blushing a little bit as she looked down at her hands.

She opened up another folder and asked Piper to repeat the actions for the rest of the set, containing drawings from the other departments.

With the confidence boost fueled by impressing Alex, she finished before lunch.

"Seriously?" Was Alex's response as Piper walked in and informed her she had completed the task. "I don't know how I'm gonna keep you busy for an entire summer."

The thought of spending the entire summer working next to Alex made her stomach do flip flops and she grinned a huge dorky grin at the thought, basking in the praise from Alex.

"Come get lunch with me?" Alex asked, as if Piper would every say no to this woman.

...

They decided to get sushi, Alex insisting that the place down the block was the best in town. Piper, who had only eaten sushi a handful of times and always struggled with using chopsticks, didn't realize her mistake until they walked into the restaurant. Her nerves were instantly worsened as Alex placed her hand on the small of her back as the hostess led them to their table. Piper's mind was racing. _Is Alex just a handsy person? What if she actually likes me? Did my dad just tell Alex to be extra nice to me?_

Her questions were cut short as Alex ushered her into a chair before seating herself across the table. Piper pulled her chopsticks from their sleeve and pulled them apart gingerly, fiddling with them and refusing to look at Alex.

"Are you okay?" Alex looked at her, clearly concerned.

"Yeah I just umm... I'm no expert when it comes to using chopsticks." She scrunched her face up, feeling like a complete idiot. Then she heard that laughter again and she looked up sheepishly at the brunette.

"Piper Chapman, the girl that can use AutoCAD like it's Microsoft Paint but can't use a pair of chopsticks!" She laughed that amazing laugh again and Piper's face turned crimson.

"I'll show you," she said reaching across the table and placing the chopsticks into Piper's right hand. "Just keep your hand like that and use your finger to pinch them together. This one can just stay still. And it's sushi, that's like the easiest food to eat with chopsticks." She demonstrated with her own. Piper smiled and tried to copy the brunettes actions, trying not to freak out that this woman just touched her hand on purpose. She managed to drop both of the chopsticks onto her napkin almost immediately and the both laughed.

Alex ordered for the both of them, picking up on the fact that Piper knew nothing about sushi, and their order came quickly. Piper tried for about 30 seconds before grabbing just one of her chopsticks and stabbing a California roll right through the center, popping it into her mouth and making Alex laugh again.

"Well, we can't be good at everything." She said before skillfully using her chopsticks to grab a piece for herself. "So I was thinking... I've been working on making this model of the pipeline for a project, and I need to do calculations to get the stresses on the pipes figured out. I think it would be good for you to work on it with me. What do you think?"

"Yes! Yeah... I mean, I think it would be a good learning experience for me." Her voice was probably an octave higher than normal, but she managed to hold back her grin because she was so embarrassed at her excitement.

"Well, that's the dream."

They continued their meal making small talk, Alex throwing in useful bits of information every now and then.

 _Always walk on the right side of the hallway so you don't run into people._

 _The coffee is like pure gasoline but you will learn to love it._

 _You'll want to use printer 907 because it's the closest to your cubicle._

"Oh, one last thing. People expect newbies to bring in donuts. It's just kind of a thing here."

"Are you sure you aren't just tricking me into buying you donuts?" Piper asked with mock skepticism, causing another loud laugh from Alex.

"Hey, it's your call kid." They continued laughing as Piper failed to properly use her chopsticks yet again.

Alex paid again, against Piper's arguments.

 _You're a college student, I'm not letting you buy me food... that's just wrong,_ she had argued.

When they returned to the office Piper sat in Alex's cubicle and watched as she built the pipeline using a program she had never seen before, listening to Alex's brief explanations of each step. She had Piper build simple parts from the chair next to her, not needing to do much coaching as the young girl picked it up very quickly. _You're really good at this, maybe I'll start calling you Pipes,_ she said at one point. The rest of the day went by in what felt like minutes.

"We make a good team, Pipes." Alex stated as she put on her leather jacket and grabbed her bag.

Piper's grin lit up the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

 **I couldn't sleep last night so here's a new chapter! I'm not sure exactly how I want this to play out but I think each chapter will be a day long until things start to progress. The anticipation is the best part, right?**

 **I'm not super happy with how this chapter turned out but I have a lot of ideas to use later in the story, so don't give up on me yet! Any requests will be considered :)**

 **And to answer Romy, I'm about to start my last week of a ME internship in Bellevue, a lot of parts in this story are based of stuff from this summer (excluding the fluff and future smut unfortunately).**

Day 3

Piper had spoken to her father the previous night on the phone. He asked her how Alex had been treating her, and sounded surprised when she told him she was great. _She usually keeps to herself, she's pretty intimidating,_ he had told her. _Maybe she does like me..._ The bus doors hissed and she stepped off, walking toward the building.

Alex was inside waiting for the elevator when she walked in. Dressed in a black skirt and wearing her signature leather jacket, Piper slowed her walking and took in the sign for a moment before walking up to her.

"Hey!" Piper said cheerily, feeling a little more comfortable after learning that Alex was being especially nice to her, and walked up to her coworker.

"Hey, kid." Alex said with a smile. "You ready to do some calcs today?"

Piper slowly nodded with a crooked grin while they both got into the elevator. She glanced over at Alex, who looked completely at ease as always. _How is she always so nonchalant about everything?_ The elevator ride was comfortably silent, Piper stealing glances at Alex while Alex pretended not to notice.

They sat in Alex's cubicle the same as the day before, working together to put the finishing touches on the model of the pipeline based off the drawings from some of the other engineers.

Alex grabbed her phone and plugged in her headphones, which disappointed Piper until she held the left one up to her. Piper took it with a grin and they listened to _Stunner_ by Milky Chance.

"Here," Alex said scooting over so Piper could sit in front of the computer. "Try to do this bend on your own." She grabbed the arm of Piper's chair and suddenly pulled it so she was centered in front of the computer making the younger girl giggle, and leaned forward while putting her arm around the back of the chair. Piper's heart began racing as she grabbed the mouse with an unsteady hand. _This is definitely not how people normally act around their coworkers. She has to like me, right?_ She began clicking as Alex pointed to the bend on the drawing on the desk.

"So you just want to make sure you put in the exterior radius, not the interior... Yeah, perfect. Now just type in how many degrees you want the bend to be." Piper did as she was told and it worked perfectly. Before either of them could say anything she heard Nicky.

"Hey Vause, if you have her do everything they're gonna stop paying you. How will you buy me lunch?"

Alex withdrew her arm quickly from the back of the chair, which let Piper know this wasn't how she normally behaved with coworkers. She bit her lip to hide her grin and pretended to concentrate on the screen in front of her.

"Thanks Beetlejuice, but the point of an internship is for her to learn what we do here."

Before Nicky could respond her cell phone began ringing and she walked away to answer it. Alex's chair was now significantly father away from Piper's. The arms were touching when Nicky walked up, but now there was a good 6 inches between them. Alex cleared her throat, breaking the silence, but she somehow maintained her calm demeanor and acted as if nothing had happened. They continued working platonically until Piper's stomach growled at around 12:15.

"Do you want to get lunch again? I don't usually go out this much but I figured I'd keep you company until you get to know the area better... And Nicky keeps taking my food anyways." This was the first time Piper had heard Alex sound somewhat unsure of herself and in a weird way it made her more comfortable, as if Alex was a little more human.

"That would be great." Piper responded with a smile.

They walked around outside trying to decide what to eat for a few minutes before Piper saw a hot dog cart.

"Oh!" She shouted, "Let's get hot dogs!"

Alex laughed, "from a hot dog cart?"

Piper looked at her like she had two heads. "Yes, from a hot dog cart! Please tell me you've had a Seattle dog before?" She asked with wide eyes. Everyone at her school was always eating Seattle dogs, they were the perfect food for walking around campus or curing a nasty hangover - practically invented for college students.

"No, I've never had a Seattle dog before. Is this gonna give me food poisoning?"

"Oh my god, just come with me." Piper grabbed Alex's hand, too determined to see the surprise on the brunettes face or notice how perfectly their hands fit together.

"So what is a Seattle dog?" Alex asked skeptically.

"Oh my god," the blonde repeated. "I can't believe you. Just try it."

They continued walking over to the stand and when they got in line, Piper realized they were still holding hands but neither of them let go. Piper ordered for the pair and paid this time before Alex could argue, receiving two hot dogs in tinfoil wrappers, letting their hands free as if nothing had happened.

A Seattle dog is a regular hot dog with cream cheese, grilled onions, and jalapenos, one of those things that sounds weird until you try it, and then you become completely addicted to them. Alex eyed hers, still skeptical, before taking a small bite.

She moaned and threw her head back. "Okay, you win, this is so fucking good."

Piper barely heard her speak as she tried to stay standing, knees weak from the sight in front of her, mind stuck on the fact that she actually just made this beautiful creature moan. They scarfed down their hot dogs in silence as they walked around the courtyard.

"Oh my god. I can't believe I've been missing out on those my entire life." Alex groaned as they plopped down on a bench a couple blocks away from their office. It had only been 20 minutes so they had quite a bit of time to kill.

"So do you live around here?" Alex asked after a few more minutes of comfortable silence.

"I live in Seattle, right next to the stadiums."

"Wait, like in that big glass building?" Alex seemed shocked.

"Yeah. It's like the same price as a dorm for a studio there, but way nicer and I don't have to deal with any roommates or anything."

"Wow. That's actually really cool. I've always wanted to see what that place was like."

"You should come over!" Piper blurted out a little too eagerly. "I mean, maybe when there's a Sounders game going on or something, it's really cool..." _Oh my god shut up, you sound like a complete dumbass!_

"I'd like that." Alex ignored the girls awkwardness and scooted a little closer to her, effectively doubling Piper's heart rate immediately. Their hands sat palm down on the bench between them, almost touching, and Alex lifted her pink and hooked it around Piper's, still looking straight ahead. The blonde worried her lip between her teeth and looked at Alex, heart hammering in her chest.

 _She wants to come to my apartment. She's practically holding my hand. Holy fucking shit._

Alex looked back at Piper with a smile and they looked into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity. The brunette began tracing undefined shaped and patterns on the other girls hand before speaking up to break the silence.

"So this project will probably last a couple more weeks. Then I'll have to start you on something a little more independent." Piper looked down at her feet after hearing this, like a little kid that was told they couldn't have ice cream for dinner, or they couldn't get the puppy that they wanted so bad.

"I'll still be helping you out a lot, especially the way you go through work. You're seriously really good at this stuff, kid." Piper's eyes lit up at the compliment and the use of one of her favorite new nicknames.

"How long have you been working here?"

"Almost 3 years now. I like the freedom, you know? I can just throw in my headphones and get shit done, nobody is ever breathing over my shoulder especially with John being gone with your dad all the time."

John was the head of the transportation department, which made him the boss of Bill, Alex, Nick, a few other employees, and now Piper.

"I wouldn't mind working here after I graduate." Piper decided with a smile that was returned by Alex's magical grin.

They stood and walked back to the office slowly, bumping hips and arms against each other, brushing hands twice, each time pretending it was an accident.

These touches continued as they went back to work at the office. They eventually finished building the model of the pipeline and exported it to another program to begin calculating stresses and strains on different bends and support points. The afternoon was especially enjoyable for the two as Alex pressed her leg against Piper's, giving the blonde enough confidence to scoot her chair back towards Alex's again. They shared Alex's headphones and listened to various genres of music at a quiet volume so they could still speak without raised voices. Eye contact was held for a little too long not to mean anything, and fingertips brushed together more than could be attributed to the blonde's clumsiness.

Piper found herself becoming sad when she noticed the clock ticking away, with only 30 minutes until the day was over. She was beginning to see a different side of Alex. She went from welcoming, comfortable, and kind to strong, confident (more than usual), and even more sexy, if that was even possible. Her heel ran up Piper's calf once, twice, and a third time before Piper had to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. She placed her hands on the counter and let her head fall forward, trying to get herself together. She looked up, running a finger under each eye to fix her eyeliner, tousled her hair and returned to the cubicle. She took a seat again. _Fuck it._ She lightly ran her fingertips up and down the outside of Alex's thigh, a thin skirt being the only thing separating than skin to skin contact she so hungrily desired.

She continued this action for the last 20 minutes of the day before they shut off Alex's computer and began gathering their belongings. Piper stood before Alex, who simply looked her up and down like a piece of meat she wanted to devour, causing the girl to blush profusely.

"So I'll see you tomorrow then?" Piper asked, already knowing the answer but desperate to break the silence.

"I'll see you tomorrow Pipes." One more long glance from Alex and the woman was gone. Piper took a few more minutes to fill her purse with her belongings and walked to catch her bus.

When Piper got home that night, she immediately changed into shorts and a baggy tee shirt and went to the gym on the 5th floor, going straight to the treadmill. She didn't enjoy running in place as much as around the city, but any time after 5 it made her a little uncomfortable. As nice as her building was, Pioneer Square can be extremely overwhelming at night time. While she ran she tried to avoid thinking about Alex, trying to remember which of her friends stayed in town over the summer because she could sure use a drink. Piper was freshly 21 as of June 7th. Her celebration, however, was rained on by her Engineering Methods and Mechanics of Materials finals which took place in mid June. She had only been to 2 bars since her birthday, because once finals were over all of her friends went to back to their home states. _I wonder where Alex is from. I bet she would be fun to go to a bar with._

Piper slowed to a walk on the treadmill, cooling down before heading back upstairs to her apartment. Her ponytail was falling out and her shirt was wrinkled when she saw herself in the floor length mirror in the gym, but she didn't care. Thankfully the elevator was empty so she didn't have to make small talk with any neighbors on the ride to the 21st floor.

The building had 26 floors, with a rooftop technically making it 27. She had a perfect view; directly across from the stadium. She could see about half of the field from her bed, which was probably her favorite part about living here. The blonde wasn't a huge soccer fan, but watching the game live from your bed makes almost any sport enjoyable.

Her bamboo floors were cold when she removed her tennis shoes and socks, and it felt amazing. To the right of her door was the bathroom and to the left was a closet containing a washer and dryer. There was another closet further in front of the washer and dryer that she used for coats and anything else that didn't have a place. The kitchen was on the same wall; a stainless steel fridge with a freezer drawer, dark wood cabinets and perfectly white quartz counter tops, a large sink with one of those faucets you can turn on with the tap of a hand, a microwave built into the cabinet area on top of a glass top oven and stove combo. It was small, but she didn't need much to be satisfied. A TV was mounted to the small wall between the kitchen and the windows, which were floor to ceiling, and her bed lay against the wall across from the kitchen area.

She decided to relax for a little bit before taking a shower, taking her shirt off and turning on the Xbox One her grandparents got her for Christmas. She played Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare for about 30 minutes before she got too distracted thinking about Alex and had to quit. She lay back with a sigh, attempting to think about something else, but before she knew it her fingers were playing at them band of her shorts. Fingers danced over the smoothly shaved skin, dipping a little deeper as her thoughts brought her to those dark green eyes that looked at her so mercilessly before she went home. The image in her head had her pumping two fingers in and out of herself quickly, using her left hand to slip under her sports bra to pinch and pull at her nipple. Paying her clit some much needed attention with her thumb, she imagined gripping her fingers into those black locks of hair as Alex assaulted her mouth, pretending her own fingers were the long slender ones of the brunette. The memory of Alex's heels rubbing up and down her calf made her quicken her actions as she pictured kneeling underneath that desk in front of the brunette in her office chair. Her imagination brought her to the edge quickly and she let out a single loud moan, slamming her head back against the pillow as she came.

Piper lay in the tangled sheets for a few moments before catching her breath and heading to the bathroom to take a shower. She fell asleep moments after returning to bed, exhausted after a long day of sexual tension and still exhausted from her afternoon activities.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

 **So I was just going to write a short chapter but apparently that is something I'm unable to do... So here you go! Prepare for a little change of pace here, I know it started out slow but I wanted to make this as realistic as possible.**

 **Thank you guys so much for the reviews. I seriously read them over and over because they make me so happy :)**

Day 4

Piper decided to pick a sexier outfit than usual today. She thought about Alex all night but still slept enough to avoid getting bags under her eyes. She wore her tightest black pencil skirt that emphasized her runners legs with the help of her heels and made her ass look great. Her light blue shirt was buttoned down to show the cleavage so generously provided by the push up bra she carefully chose to wear. Her makeup was a little more on point than normal, and she ruffled her hair into a messy yet sophisticated look. She could tell she chose well as she received some long stares from fellow bus passengers on the commute to work.

On the elevator ride up to the 17th floor she decided this would be the day she would find out if her feeling about Alex were unrequited. It didn't take long to find out though, because as she turned the corner to walk down the hall to her cubicle she saw Alex's green eyes. They weren't meeting hers, though, and instead were traveling up and down her body deliberately slowly, stopping on her more pronounced legs and pausing for even longer on her chest. She felt her cheeks turning pink at how blatantly Alex was checking her out, but kept walking toward her with a little extra sway in her hips.

"Hey, kid." Alex's voice was husky, lower than normal and almost hushed as if she was telling a secret. "I was supposed to give you some busy work for today but I think I'll save that for tomorrow... I could use you today."

She guided Piper to the spare chair in her cubicle and they sat as close as possible. At some point while Piper was concentrating on the task at hand Alex's hand snuck under the arm of the chair and to the small of her back, so gently and carefully that she wasn't even sure when this had happened. Her fingers slid under the light blue shirt just enough to delicately rub her skin, giving the blonde goosebumps. Alex noticed this and slid her hand higher, infuriatingly slow, tracing her fingers over the dimples in Piper's back, somehow still managing to control the mouse with her other hand since the blonde had lost the ability to concentrate on their work. Alex leaned in to Piper so close that her lips brushed her earlobe.

"Tell me now if I've somehow misread the situation here." Her voice barely a whisper, making the hairs on the back of the blondes neck stand up. She sucked in her lower lip and slowly shook her head while taking a deep breath through her nose.

The blonde remained useless as she struggle to keep her breathing steady wile Alex multitasked, typing in numbers on the keypad with her right hand and dipping below the waistband of Piper's skirt with her left. Piper was in shock. This woman had spent the last 3 days acting almost motherly; constantly checking if she needed help and never letting her eat lunch alone. Hell, once she even threw a pack of fruit snacks over the cubicle wall because Piper's stomach growled. But now her fingers were slipping up her shirt, down her skirt... The blonde cleared her throat to cover the sound of her moan as the woman slipped her hand to her back again, this time circling around her small waist to drum her fingers on the girl's protruding hip bone, mere inches away from her now completely ruined panties.

Alex's phone rang and she answered it with her right hand, leaving her left on the blondes hip.

"Vause."

...

"Right now? I'm... You know what, yeah I can do that."

...

"Don't worry about it."

She hung up the phone and stood up, removing her hand from the girl's body.

"Let's go kid, you're gonna see some of this stuff in action." She walked out without even waiting for Piper to stand up, and had already pressed the button when the flustered girl rushed over to the elevator. Her legs slightly wobbled in her heels as the brunette looked her up and down again, shirt a little wrinkled, bright blue eyes as wide as those of a puppy.

"Where are we going?" It was almost a whisper.

"The job site for the project we've been working on. They need someone to take measurements of the utilidor because _apparently_ that's not something the client can do." She sounded a little irritated but she had a smirk on her face as if she was up to something.

They walked into the parking garage, Piper following Alex's lead as they walked up to a spotless black Tesla.

"No fucking way, you drive one of these?!" Piper couldn't keep up the sexy charade as she grew extremely excited. "These things are so cool!"

Alex laughed and shook her head in amusement, watching the blonde stare at the door, trying to figure out how to open it. She unlocked the door with her remote causing the handle to pop out of the door and Piper squealed in excitement as she hopped in the car before Alex could even open the driver side door. When the brunette sat in her seat Piper was excitedly looking around the car, swinging her legs like a little kid.

"It's so spacious in here! And it smells good..." She trained off, blushing a little bit, realizing the car just smelled like Alex and it had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Tesla.

Piper giggled and squealed and grabbed on to the _oh shit_ bar as Alex weaved through traffic, fueled by the blonde's obvious excitement. They arrived at their destination, which happened to be in the SODO area just south of Piper's neighborhood.

"You live in that one, right?" Alex pointed to her building as they got out. The top was just visible over the arches of Century Link Stadium.

"You can see my window from here actually." She squinted, counting from the top floor down, then from the right side to her apartment. Her eyes widened and she gasped.

"Oh my god! I didn't know you could see in the windows so easily from the outside, it always looks so reflective! Oh shit..."

"What, do you just walk around naked all the time?"  
Piper's face in her hands and a loud groan was the only answer she offered to the brunette.

"Oh... Well if I knew that I would have come around this area a lot more often."

Piper spread her fingers and peeked at Alex expecting to see her signature smirk but was instead met with cold green eyes that showed no sign of humor.

"Hey Vause, thanks for coming. Who's the kid?" Piper removed her hands from her face to see a pretty cute guy wearing a construction vest and hard hat, with one extra hard hat in his hand.

"Piper this is Emmett, Emmett, this is Piper. She's our intern so I'm having her tag along."

"Nice to meet you Piper." He smiled genuinely. "I need to grab another hat for her then, I'll be right back." He tossed the first one to Alex and jogged back into the building.

Alex walked closer to Piper and put the hat on her head but it was way too big and fell over her eyes. Alex let out an authentic laugh before adjusting the straps on the inside of the hat and fitting it back on her head.

"You do a pretty stellar job pulling off a hard hat, kid." Alex complimented while her eyes gave the blonde another up and down, clearly done playing this coy game that the two had been at for the last 3 days. She tucked a strand of hair up into the hat before turning at the sound of Emmett's voice.

"Alright ladies, do you know where to go?" The question was directed at Alex.

"I've been staring at these plans for a few weeks, if I don't know where to go someone should fire me."

Emmett unlocked a door which he held for the two women and they split paths. Alex was walking ahead of Piper, looking stunning in her heels, skirt, black blazer, and white hard hat matching Piper's. Alex took time explaining where the pipeline would be going through the utilidor as she took measurements of various areas. It was surprisingly quick, and Piper understood now why Alex sounded somewhat irritated that she had to do this; it took them longer to get to the building than it did to take the actual measurements.

They stopped at the door and Alex removed her own hard hat, then Piper's, taking time to fix the girls hair while making dangerously suggestive eye contact.

They got back into Alex's car, Piper once again looking around taking in every detail of the futuristic, expensive car that she was so fascinated with. She was so focused on the interior of the car that she didn't notice Alex passing the entrance to the freeway and pulling up right in front of her apartment building.

"Wha... What are we doing here?" Piper stuttered, looking over at Alex for an answer.

"You owe me a tour." She said this like it was obvious before hopping out of the sleek car and paying for 4 hours of parking.

"You just paid for 4 hours of parking... shouldn't we be getting back to work?"

"Stop freaking out kid, is there something up there you don't want me to see?" Piper's eyes widened, the statement reminding her that her apartment was a little bit of a mess. Since she started working she hadn't been cleaning up after herself, too emotionally exhausted from this woman to give a shit.

"No I just... I mean... I wasn't expecting..." She trailed off, narrowing her eyes at Alex's smug fucking smirk that was once again plastered on that perfect face. "Fine, you know what? Fine."

She fished her keys from her purse and jammed the fob into the keyhole much harder than necessary, opening the door and leading the way to the elevators.

"What the fuck is up with this wallpaper?" Alex was raising her eyebrow at the wallpaper that lined the wall on the right side of the short hallway to the elevators. There was a grey background with images of crumpled up tinfoil littering the wall.

The blonde shrugged, "I don't really know. I always thought it was kind of cool though."

She called the elevator and one of them was already on the first floor, the doors opening immediately. The blonde led the way inside, using her fob in another keyhole before pressing the 21st floor button.

"Holy security, how fucked would you be if you lost your key?" She asked with a chuckle.

"It's not too bad actually... I've locked mine inside twice now and I just had to call security to let me in." The brunette laughed again, unsurprised that the clumsy girl had forgotten her keys twice already.

The elevator stopped on the 5th floor and a man with a very old pug walked in. Piper immediately crouched down.

"Hi Jasper!" She said in a ridiculously high voice, rubbing the dog all over his torso and face. He sneezed right in front of her and she scrunched up her face, wiping it with her hand. The elevator stopped at her floor and they both exited, Alex waiting to the side because she had no idea where to go. It looked very similar to a hotel with all of the doors labeled with an apartment number, most of them with different doormats outside on the carpeted hallway. Piper weaved through the hallway to a door that she used her key to open, trying to rush in before Alex to tidy up. She shut the bathroom door quickly upon entry and frantically picked up clothes, tossing them toward the hamper unsuccessfully as they littered the floor around it. A bottle of tequila sat on the stove with one shot glass next to it, a sticky puddle of the liquor underneath the glass. She had a bookshelf with every textbook she had ever used in order of subject, neatly organized. Luckily she had at least somewhat made her bed, a red comforter lay lopsided covering her mattress.

Alex looked around nodding her approval, "This is really nice." Her eyes directed out the window. "Holy shit, you can see almost the whole field from here?"

Piper proudly nodded, glad that Alex wasn't looking at the mess too much. Her internal celebration was too hasty, though, as Alex glanced down to see a pair of Piper's panties at her feet. She lifted them up with her toe and looked at the girl with an eyebrow raised, that smirk on her face _again_. She quickly grabbed them off of the shoe and buried them in the hamper, hoping that this would never be spoken of again.

"I wasn't expecting company..." She reasoned, avoiding the inevitable eye contact with the woman. "It's not very big but I don't need much space... And there's a bunch of common areas so I don't really spend too much time in here."

"Common areas? Like what?" The brunette inquired, looking down at the blonde.

"There's the rooftop... and then the 5th floor has a lounge area and a theater and stuff. And there's a gym too."

"Well what are we waiting for?" She allowed the blonde to lead the way back out of the apartment, unable to resist pinching her ass, which evoked a squeal and a deep blush from the girl.

They both waited for the elevator again, Alex behaving herself for the first time in a while. Piper was lost in her thoughts, _this woman is actually pursuing me right now, what the fuck does she see in me? I'm a child compared to her..._ The elevator dinged and Piper took them to the 5th floor this time.

They made their way to the lounge. To the right of the door was a huge flatscreen, typically used to watch sports games by the residents. There was a large sectional couch that just begged to be sat on and a simple wooden coffee table sat in front of it. To the immediate left was a kitchen with a huge fridge, gas stove, dishwasher and oven. The double sink was against the wall built into the granite counter top. Above the sink sat another TV, this one more modest and rarely used. The gas stove was on the island, which had 4 sizable leather bar stools against it. A long skinny table took up most of the space of the lounge, with dramatically large chairs at the heads of the table and smaller replicas lining both sides. There was another sitting area behind it with low chairs in a circle around another coffee table. On the other side of the sectional, directly in front of the door they entered through, there were glass doors hidden in the floor to ceiling windows separating the room from the huge patio area.

They made their way to a smaller room behind the kitchen that was filled with a large shuffleboard table and 3 arcade game machines. They quickly vetoed the golf game, arguing whether they should play the Ms. Pacman machine (Piper's choice) or Big Game Hunter (Alex's choice). They decided to play both.

Alex skillfully shot every moose on the screen, perfectly avoiding the calves and the roaming hunter that danced across the woods. Piper's turn didn't go so well, as she repeatedly shot into thin air and used up the rest of the timer trying to reload her orange plastic gun, becoming more frustrated as this sophisticated woman almost cried from laughter at her inability to score even one point. The 'hunting guide' rubbed salt in her fresh wounds, his southern accent loud enough to cause a crackle from the speaks as he shouted "YOU LOSE!"

She huffed and moved over to the Ms. Pacman machine, deciding to play a game called Mappy. She controlled the mouse character with ease, using the trampoline to narrowly avoid the cats that were so desperate to catch her character, setting one of the top scores on the machine. Alex used her hip to bump the girl out of the way, grabbing the controls confidently. Her cockiness quickly faltered as she used all of her spare lives on the first level, getting stuck in doorways repeatedly.

"This is fucking dumb. What kind of mouse can open doors anyways? And these are supposed to be trampolines?"

Piper's smug grin got even bigger as Alex's last life was wasted by jumping on the trampoline one too many times and the character fell off the screen to its final death. Piper's victory lap around the small room with her arms in the air was cut short as Alex grabbed her by the waist, pressing her lips to the side of the girls head.

"Looks like we're tied up. Care to make a wager?"

The blondes blue eyes widened and she sucked her lip into her mouth. "What kind of wager?"

"Winner gets a free dinner?" The brunette replied smiling at her rhyme. Her smile was returned by the blonde as she realized that the end result was the two of them going out to dinner either way, and she agreed.

A stressful 10 minutes of golf later and Alex had the lead by 2. It only took her 4 shots to complete the last hole, which was impressive compared to the poor performance from both of them thus far. She was looking rather smug, flexing her muscles at the younger girl who narrowed her eyes and shook her head, eyes flickering to her biceps for a little longer than she could control.

With an especially hard roll of the ball built into the machine, time seemed to slow. They both watched in awe as the ball shot across the screen and landed in a perfect hole in one. Her arms shot in the air, mouth open as she turned to Alex, who simply stared at the screen in shock.

"This game is bullshit! There's no way that should have been a hole in one. You are so fucking lucky."

Brushing her shoulders off Piper asked, "Where are you taking me for dinner then?"

"Honestly I didn't think of a place because I thought I would win. Is that place downstairs any good?"

"Girin? I don't know, I've never been there before. Wait, you want to go now? What time is it?" Piper was worried, realizing she hadn't looked at a clock in what felt like forever.

"It's 6." Alex replied as if this was no big deal.

"Alex! We never went back to work! I'm going to get in so much trouble!" She was pacing back and forth now, the smugness on her face replaced with honest worry.

Alex just laughed at her. "Piper, who is going to get you in trouble? I'm the only other person in your department. Nobody will even know."

Piper took a deep breath, not completely relaxed yet, but unable to control the affect the brunettes words had on her.

"Come on, let's go." Alex walked out of the arcade room and to the elevator quickly, causing Piper to try to run in her heels and tight skirt unsuccessfully.

...

They entered the restaurant and Alex held up two fingers to the hostess, who quickly led them to a table in the seemingly empty restaurant. Looking around it was clear that there were in fact a good amount of people there, but the layout made the diners feel completely alone with their company. Alex forfeited the both side of the seat to Piper's puppy dog eyes before the blonde stood up to go to the bathroom.

She cursed her reflection and tried to tame her hair before reapplying her eyeliner and lip gloss that had worn off since this morning. She washed her hands and looked over to see a small shelf on the wall labeled 'mouthwash station', containing little cups and a mouthwash dispenser.

 _This place is way too nice_.

It was Korean food, they learned, as the waiter brought over some small dishes with various appetizers. It was then that the blonde realized why Alex had been smiling so wide when she returned from the restroom. She opened up her cloth napkin to reveal two simple metal chopsticks.

"Oh my god. Did you know this before we came here?" She asked in a harsh whisper.

"No, I swear. I didn't come here to be embarrassed by your inability to use utensils." The brunette replied through her quiet laughter. This got her a swift kick to the shin from the mortified blonde, who wasn't even attempting to use the chopsticks except to scoop up what she could only describe as really delicious cold mashed potatoes.

"Come on Pipes, give it another shot. You can't just refuse to eat."

"Oh, I definitely can." The blonde responded, angry at the brunette even though this wasn't her fault. They ended up ordering a steak ssam plate, which was perfect because they could eat with their hands, and Piper lightened up a little bit.

Piper had trouble eating as Alex's heel slid up and down her calf, similar to how it had done in the office previously. She decided to try out a bold move and scooted in closer to the table, causing their knees to bump together clumsily. Alex's mouth smiled but her eyes were predatory, staring deep in to Piper's blue ones. They were interrupted by the waitress filling up their waters, and Piper broke eye contact to thank the waitress. Alex's foot continued as they shared their meal, Piper making innocent moans of approval with no idea what affect it was having on Alex.

Eventually they both stopped eating and instead of waiting for the bill, Alex pulled out her wallet and sat two bills on the table, a hundred and a fifty. She stood up, offering her hand to Piper before moving it to the small of her back and walking her out of the restaurant.

"Do you still want to see the roof top? I mean it's really pretty during sunset..." Piper was petrified that the woman would shoot her down, even though in the back of her mind she knew, after the events of the day, that was impossible.

Alex's only response was to wrap her arm around Piper's waist and squeeze her hip.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

 **Ugh. This took me a long time to write, I had to keep stopping because I've never done this before. I think you all know what's going to happen. I'm sorry if it's not great but I wanted to keep it somewhat long because... I just felt like I should. Any criticism is welcome but don't be mean because I've never done this before! And please tell me what you liked or didn't like if you feel so inclined because I need feedback to improve and it makes me happy.**

 **Thanks for reading, your reviews are the only reason I keep going.**

Alex kept her arm firm around Piper's waist as they waited for the elevator, which the blonde was thankful for because her nerves were making her feel drunk. She bit the inside of her cheeks as her eyes darted quickly along the room while they waited for what felt like an eternity for the elevator to reach the first floor. The elevator finally came and took them to the roof. The blonde led the way now, out of the doors and directly outside, not wanting to miss the sunset by showing the brunette the two lounge areas. There was nobody else on the roof, which was pretty normal. The blonde always wondered why more people didn't come up here to watch the sunset. There were over 300 apartments in the building yet she always found herself alone in the common areas, not that she was complaining. They sat in the thick cushions of the large wicker chairs in front of the gas fire pit that Piper turned on with the press of a button. They were facing the water, with a beautiful view of the city to the right and the SODO area to their left. The sun reflected off the water, filling the clouds with tones of orange and pink that perfectly contrasted the bright blue exposed areas of sky. They were silent, simply taking in the view. Piper noticed out the corner of her eye as Alex's head turned, deliberately pointing directly at her face. She didn't look back at the woman for about 30 seconds, but when she did she was stunned at how the warm colors made the brunette look even more beautiful.

The brunette scooted to the far side of her chair and looked down at the open space next to her, then back up at Piper in a silent invitation. The blonde eagerly accepted and got up to sit next to the brunette in the oversized chair, her left leg resting over Alex's right leg and their torsos pressed together intimately. Their faces were mere inches apart as Piper looked into Alex's gaze, it seemed that the cocky, determined woman was completely at ease and she felt more safe and comfortable than she could remember feeling in her life. Alex's fingertips came up to lightly trace along the blonde's cheek, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. Piper's gaze was now on Alex's full lips, and suddenly her eyes were closed as Alex grabbed both of her cheeks and pulled her in, pressing their lips together softly. Piper kissed back immediately, but the kiss remained soft and slow, both of them feeling like they had all the time in the world. Alex's tongue lazily brushed over her lower lip and she parted her lips, granting her access. Piper's heart was hammering in her chest harder than ever before, almost painfully as she felt the brunettes tongue in her mouth. Their actions were slowly becoming more frantic, her fingers tangling in dark locks of hair when Alex rotated her body and straddled Piper's thighs with her knees the best she could in her tight skirt and deepened the kiss. Her small fingers clutched the lapels of the woman's blazer and tugged her impossibly closer, moaning quietly into her mouth when Alex's fingers came to softly tug at her hair. The heat from the fire was no match for what Piper was feeling right now, somehow feeling like she needed more even though that was impossible in the position they were in.

"Alex." Piper whispered when they broke momentarily to take a breath.

"Mmm..." Alex's lips were already connecting to hers again, this time with short frequent kisses, hands still tugging at blonde locks of hair.

Piper suddenly pushed Alex back by her shoulders, clearly startling the woman towering over her.

"Let's go inside." She whispered through swollen lips, looking directly into Alex's eyes.

Alex stood up and bent down to pull Piper up by her waist and they stood with their fronts pressed together for a moment. Piper reluctantly pulled away to lead them back to the elevator with Alex's hand rubbing up and down her side, from the side of her thigh to just under her breast over and over, excruciatingly slow.

The elevator came quickly and Alex pulled Piper inside, jamming the "door close" button repeatedly. She didn't even give Piper a chance to put her key in, pressing the girl against the side. The small of her back was pressed against the railing and Alex pulled her hair back exposing her neck before attacking it with her full lips and tongue. Piper's head flew back and hit the metal wall of the elevator and the pain mixed with that of Alex's teeth on her neck but it certainly wasn't bad pain, this pain was very, _very_ good. She paused for long enough to let Piper take them to her floor and they practically ran to her apartment before Alex pulled her inside. Hands everywhere was all Piper could register. Hands and that talented mouth. They ended up on the bed with Piper on top, straddling Alex as best she could in her tight skirt while they hungrily attacked each other's mouths with their tongues. It was messy and desperate and they couldn't get enough. They made out like teenagers after school before their parents got home from work. Both of their moans filled the small room and Alex wrapped her arms around Piper's back and flipped them over so the blonde was trapped under her. Any movements were difficult given their attire so Alex quickly relieved Piper of her skirt, leaving her in just her blouse, bra, and panties. Piper silently thanked a higher power that she wore matching undergarments and was presentable to say the least. Alex must have agreed because the sound she made was unlike any Piper had ever heard, some sort of mix between a grunt and a moan. Pure desire. Alex's gaze was predatory as she grabbed Piper's shirt with both hands on either side of the buttons and tore roughly sending buttons flying in arcs, some landing on the bed while most of them rolled around on the bamboo floor. This evoked a loud moan from Piper, who had probably never been hornier in her life. She felt completely out of control of her own body. The blonde's chest was heaving as Alex stared at her body with her mouth slightly open, breath coming in short pants. She unzipped her skirt so she could more effectively straddle the girl under her. She kissed Piper's neck, sucking at the skin before moving down to her pronounced collar bone and nibbling on it just hard enough to receive a whimper from the young blonde.

Alex's hands danced over the Piper's toned stomach slowly and torturously, fingers climbing up the ladder of her ribs and sliding down to trace her belly button like a game of Chutes and Ladders while her mouth moved down to her chest. Her bra was removed faster than she knew what was happening and Alex's mouth was around her right nipple immediately, nibbling and sucking and teasing relentlessly. Her hands tangled in Alex's dark hair as she groaned, wanting her to continue but move on at the same time. She repeated the actions on the girls other breast before kissing her way down to the skin between her belly button and the elastic of her panties. She suddenly grabbed the top of Piper's skimpy underwear and yanked upwards, the thin soaked garment spreading her lips and applying some much needed pressure to her clit. Piper's gasps filled the room as Alex stared lustfully at the seemingly endless moisture between her legs before opening her mouth and closing it over as much of Piper as she could fit in her mouth. The audible sucking noise mixed with the feeling of her wet mouth caused Piper to cry out and cover her eyes with her forearm, afraid if she looked down she would cum immediately.

As soon as she covered her eyes Alex pulled away and looked up at her.

"Look at me, Piper." It was a command. There was no question in her voice, and Piper slowly moved her arm and locked eyes with the woman between her legs. "Keep looking at me."

She pulled down the girls panties painfully slowly before flinging them across the room, maintaining eye contact with Piper the whole time. Piper was having trouble breathing and felt an almost painful pang in her stomach as she tried to keep her eyes focused on Alex, who was slowly sliding her hands up until they pulled Piper's thighs apart. She was completely exposed and began to feel a little self conscious. She'd had her fair share of sex in her life but not recently. It had been almost a year since she'd had sex because she was so busy in school and frankly there weren't many people that caught her eye lately. _Until now._ It was almost like Alex sensed she was uncomfortable as her gaze moved down to her center and she muttered _so fucking perfect_. Her hands moved upward again, thumbs gliding over the crease between her thighs and her center making Piper buck her hips. She continued teasing the girl with feather light touches to her inner thighs and wrapping her hands around to squeeze her ass. Piper threw her fists down on the mattress hard.

"Please, Alex. Please fuck me. I can't take this." It was quiet but demanding, which apparently made Alex want to tease her more as she felt hot breath on her core but nothing further. Alex was smirking now, and Piper felt like she was becoming delusional.

"Alex!" She shouted at the woman through gritted teeth hoping to get her point across. It seemed to work because Alex bent in her pink, ring and middle finger on her right hand and slowly pressed her index finger to her opening. Her smirk remained on her face until she started applying pressure, but then her eyes widened and eyebrows raised, as if she was surprised. It had definitely been a while. She paused and Piper groaned before she heard the woman's husky voice.

"Pipes, holy shit." She was surprised at the amount of pressure it was taking but Piper didn't know what to say so she just moaned again, hoping to get her point across that she couldn't wait any longer. It worked, as Alex's finger was finally knuckle deep and Piper couldn't help but shut her eyes and throw her head back. Unfortunately for Piper, Alex still demanded eye contact and she pulled out her finger immediately.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Piper had never felt so frustrated and turned on and helpless at the same time. She did, however, return her eyes to Alex's, who once again entered her with one finger. It felt amazing, but Piper needed more. She didn't ask though, afraid of what would happen if she demanded anything else from this insufferable woman. It didn't take long for Alex to give her what she wanted. One more finger was added as Alex pressed her tongue down flat onto her clit. It happened quickly and Piper was having trouble keeping her eyes open, but she managed to maintain eye contact.

"Oh my god." She panted as Alex circled her clit with her tongue, pumping her fingers in and out at a rapid pace and curling occasionally. Piper couldn't sense a rhythm but she rocked her hips hard as she felt Alex's fingers curl roughly into that perfect spot.

Her breathing was ragged and she was tingling from her stomach to her thighs as Alex completely overloaded her senses. Just as her walls began clamping on Alex's fingers she removed her tongue and went back to using one finger, which Piper immediately reacted to by using all of her strength to shove Alex's head where she so desperately needed it to be. Alex had the audacity to _laugh_ as she slightly wriggled her finger inside of the blonde, strong enough to remain in place despite her best efforts.

"Alex I can't fucking wait any longer. Please." It wasn't quiet but she didn't yell either out of fear that the brunette would stop completely. She felt one more finger enter her and moaned her appreciation but her clit remained ignored. She began literally fucking herself on Alex's fingers because they were moving too slowly, but Alex put her arm over her hips and pressed down hard enough that she couldn't buck them anymore. She leaned in and lapped at her clit gently, like it was an ice cream cone that was melting and would collapse if any more force was used. The pace finally sped up and Piper's breaths were just loud moans that provided enough oxygen to keep her conscious, but barely. She was terrified that Alex would stop again but she didn't, and the familiar tingling came back quickly only to be replaced by intense warmth and she cried out as she came, hips still being held down. She was unable to hold Alex's eye contact but the woman seemed to finally understand this and kept moving her fingers inside of Piper.

 _Wait. She's still going._

"Alex what are you doing?!" Her voice sounded foreign and panicked. "I can't do this Alex!"

"We'll see." Alex's smirk was back, more taunting than ever as her fingers kept pumping harder and harder hitting her most sensitive spots without abandon. A thumb was now gently rubbing her clit again and she couldn't hold back. Just as she started to cum she felt the fingers retreat only to be quickly replaced by Alex's hot tongue. She fucked her relentlessly, and her orgasm blended into another as she slammed her head back into the wall with one last loud cry. She had never felt anything like this in her life. Her whole body was pulsing and she felt like she had no control over herself. Alex's thumb had stopped at some point and her tongue was removed, licking up the remnants of the mess she so smugly made of Piper.

It took Piper 9 minutes to get her breathing back under control, another 5 minutes to remember how to form a sentence out of the words scrambling in her head, and 3 more minutes to actually speak.

"That was..." And that was all she could get out before Alex kissed her. It was gentle, the hurriedness was gone and replaced with what felt like relief and relaxation. She was exhausted though, and it must have showed because Alex kissed her forehead and pulled the blanket over them, laying behind Piper and pulling her in to be the little spoon after finally removing her own shirt and skirt. Piper fell asleep to Alex whispering sweet nothings in her ear and running her fingers through her hair straight out of a fucking romance movie but it didn't feel sappy. It felt right.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

 **I gave you the smut, here's the fluffiest fluff to ever fluff. I feel like I'm gonna get a cavity if I don't brush my teeth after writing this but it was super fun to write. Sorry for any typos.**

 **THANK YOU for the reviews, favorites, and follows.**

 **Next chapter will probably be up super quick. I already have a ton of stuff written I just need to piece the puzzle together and decide what goes in which chapter.**

Piper woke up first. She had forgotten to close the blinds and the floor to ceiling windows were drowning her in sunlight. She groaned and reached onto her night stand with her face buried in the pillow, blindly searching for the nuisance that was her phone. Instead, she grabbed a pair of glasses. She shot upright, or rather tried to, but a muscular arm was wrapped tight around her waist and held her down to the mattress. She looked over without turning her head, as if turning her head would wake up the woman beside her even though trying to sit up didn't even make her flinch. Alex was laying on her stomach with her head turned toward her. She was wearing a bra and no shirt with Piper's white sheet draped across the lower half of her back. The blonde was able to examine her tattoos now, eyes taking in the image of the upturned salt shaker being cut in half by a black bra strap.

Another loud xylophone sound came from her phone and she realized she pressed snooze instead of turning off her alarm, and Alex stirred. She pulled Piper in closer, flexing her arm muscle and taking a deep breath through her nose as her eyebrows furrowed. Piper was on her side now, once again the little spoon, powerless against the surprisingly strong woman who didn't seem to be a morning person.

"Alex." It was a whisper, even though her intention was to wake up the woman. She tried to sit up to no avail and ended up wriggling her legs to lure the brunette from her slumber. Her grip tightened even more and Piper realized it was actually getting difficult to breathe so she shouted this time.

"ALEX!" The woman finally responded with a loud groan and slowly rolled closer to Piper until she was on top of her, making pretend snoring noises. Piper giggled out the last of her breath before Alex rolled back off of her and kissed her bare shoulder, eyes still shut.

"Alex we have work in like two hours." This earned her another groan and Alex buried her head under the pillow, tugging away Piper's share of the red comforter and completely burying herself.

"Oh my god, you're like a teenager." Piper shook her head and sat upright. Alex's only response was to blindly reach a hand out of the blanket and take Piper's last pillow, adding to the mountain on top of her and leaving Piper with just the mattress under her.

"Wake up!" She cried out and crawled on top of Mt. Alex. holding on for dear life as Alex tried to push her off. After enough whining Alex got up but not before pinning the blonde down and tickling her until she threatened to wet the bed and ran to the bathroom, receiving a swat to the ass as she got out of her bed.

It felt natural to have Alex here with her, and after knowing her for such a short time it only made Piper feel a little uncomfortable. _People aren't supposed to feel like this a few days into... whatever the fuck this is._

Piper did her hair in the bathroom while she waited for Alex to get up, and when she came out with a toothbrush in her mouth Alex was looking through her closet.

"Do you have a shirt I can wear? Nicky will be unstoppable if she realizes I'm wearing the same shit I did yesterday." It was the first actual sentence she said since last night. Her voice was husky, gravelly, but somehow delicate.

"Yeah, just take whatever." Piper liked the idea of Alex wearing her shirt all day. She went back into the bathroom to spit mid way through her brushing and when she returned Alex was wearing one of the button down shirts and no pants.

"Ugh," She groaned, looking in the full length mirror on the closet door. The sleeves were rolled up so you couldn't tell they were too short, but they were. The button between her breasts, however, was holding on for dear life, creating wrinkles resembling crow's feet in the fabric on either side.

"Oh poor you," The blonde said unsympathetically with the toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, somewhat hindering her ability to speak without drooling. "It must suck to have big tits."

This earned Piper an unamused look from Alex and she shook her head before returning to the bathroom. They stood side by side in the relatively small bathroom, both of them using Piper's makeup to get ready for the day at Hermann. Piper dressed in grey today, while Alex wore the same skirt with Piper's too-tight shirt. They walked out the front door where Alex's car was parked about 10 feet away. Piper waited by the passenger door and noticed Alex grab a pink envelope containing a parking ticket off the windshield and shove it in her purse without a word as she unlocked the doors. Piper assumed she had already thought about the fact that she would get a ticket. She always noticed small details and thought through every action she made (proven last night), which made her really good at her job.

The car ride there was fun, Alex driving much more leisurely this time around as Piper flipped through the stereo. She stops on a familiar station that is on a commercial break but soon the song _I Believe in a Thing Called Love_ by The Darkness came on and she cranked up the volume.

Piper starts to sing along quietly,

 _Can't explain all the feeling that you're making me feel,_

 _My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel,_

She grins over at Alex who had been raises her eyebrows, pretending to be put off for all of two seconds before loudly belting out the lyrics, purposely off key.

 _Touching you,_

 _Touching me,_

 _Touching you, god you're touching me_

Piper had a huge grin on her face while they belted out the chorus together, voices clashing not only with each other's but also with the music in a harmony from hell.

 _I believe in a thing called love,_

 _Just listen to the rhythm of my heart_

 _There's a chance we could make it now_

 _We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down_

 _I believe in a thing called love_

The last note of the chorus was utterly butchered and their fit of giggles drowned out the music which Piper eventually turned down, grin still stuck on her face. Alex made a detour for coffee, going to a small shop Piper had never heard of claiming _Starbucks is for basic white bitches_ , reigniting Piper's fit of giggles.

They shared a muffin and each get a drink. A white chocolate mocha for Piper (Alex asks if she wants any coffee with her sugar) and Alex got a black coffee (Piper didn't hesitate to call her gross when she declined cream and sugar). They're the perfect pair. Day and night. Sweet and bitter. Straightforward and mysterious. Piper used her fingers to pull small bites from the muffin whereas Alex grabbed the whole thing and took large bites less often, receiving a smack in the arm from Piper for being impolite.

"Pipes you're in college, you shouldn't be worried about manners." Alex scolded through a mouth full of muffin.

They raced back to the car, Piper making contact first and doing a thorough job notifying Alex of her loss, which was great for Piper until Alex pulled the car forward every time she tried to opening the car door, yelling _I thought you were fast!_ through the closed window.

They showed up at work and walked in together, knowing that nobody would suspect anything except Nicky who was probably still in bed. They reluctantly split up to go to their respective cubicles, feeling somewhat guilty about not returning to the office yesterday.

Piper was in the middle of making a spreadsheet organizing the calculations she has done so far when a piece of chewed up gum flies over the cubicle wall and landed on her desk.

"That is fucking disgusting..." She muttered, apparently loud enough for Alex to hear as she caught the snicker from the other side of the wall. She was in the middle of plotting her revenge when she heard Nicky's voice.

"Hey Vause, are you getting fat or do you just now know your shirt size? That button is working pretty damn hard."

"That kinda sounds like sexual harassment Nicky, don't make me sue your ass." Nicky snorted at this.

"Yo are you coming to the company picnic on Saturday? I wasn't gonna go but word on the street is there's gonna be a keg and a shit ton more food than last time."

"Well it sounds like a no brainer."

"Hey Chapman! You in for the picnic?" Nicky was outside of her cubicle now.

"Umm, yeah I guess if you guys are going it could be fun."

"Could be? You have no idea, kid." With that, Nicky was gone, muttering something over her shoulder about _God damn mechanical engineers these days_.

Later that morning Linda sent out an email informing everyone that the Bellevue office needed 4 more people to sign up for the volleyball team if they wanted to compete at the picnic.

They ate lunch in the break room. Delivery from Jimmy Johns was the choice of the day and Piper spoke through a full mouth of sandwich.

"I'm actually pretty good at volleyball."

"You should sign up Pipes, you'd be the ultimate wild card against all the old fucks from the other offices."

"You should play too! You're tall so even if you suck you'll be intimidating."

"I haven't played in a long time Pipes, I think I'll pass."

It took about 10 seconds of Piper's puppy dog eyes for her to give in and she informed Linda that the both of them will be playing. Nicky has called dibs on being the referee for their office, because apparently each team is to provide a referee.

Alex came by Piper's cubicle that afternoon to teach her how specs work. Essentially a spec is a word document that has every requirement and detail possibly needed about each part of the project. Tey more often than not reference _another_ spec that references _another_ spec and so on. Piper's job was to read through each spec and take note when there was a reference to a spec that wasn't in the project folder.

"I feel like an asshole for letting them give you specs, but honestly it's a big part of the job. I still do specs all the time. They suck but you'll get better at it.

"It's okay, I have a good teacher." She replied with a grin.

At about 4:30 Alex abruptly walked into Piper's cubicle.

"He-" Piper's greeting was cut short as her chair was whipped around and Alex's right hand grabbed her jaw and her left hand tangled in the hair on the back of her head. The brunettes mouth was on hers, her head tilted 90 degrees to the side for better access as she completely dominated Piper's mouth with her tongue. The blonde had never been kissed like this in her life. It was like her lungs contained the last breath of air on earth and the brunette was kissing it right out of her. Alex's tongue was everywhere, the roof of her mouth, the back of her teeth, and she toughly sucked on Piper's tongue. Then suddenly, after a bite to Piper's lower lip, Alex was gone leaving the blonde alone with swollen lips and fucked up hair, practically gasping for air.

Piper suffered through the last 30 minutes of the day, constantly waiting to see what Alex would do next. She had no idea how absolutely unpredictable she was until today, from being sickly, heart flutteringly sweet to overwhelmingly, goose bump raising sexy in mere seconds, this woman was quite the puzzle. Piper jolted out of her thoughts to a knock on her wall and turned to see Alex and Nicky staring at her.

"It lives!" Nicky's comment made her realize that they had been talking to her. Alex playfully shoved Nicky before repeating herself.

" _I said_ we're going to Rock Bottom to get drinks. You should come, you know, for learning purposes."

She hesitated for all of 7 seconds before conceding and gathering her stuff. They walked there because it was only 2 blocks down the street from the office. Piper frank various fruity mixed drinks while Alex and Nicky downed a couple shots of god knows what.

"You know, I never really celebrated my 21st birthday. I had finals going on so I bought a bottle of wine and that was it."

Her coworkers shared a look before deciding for her.

"You're coming out with us this weekend then." Nicky informed her.

"What about the picnic?" Piper felt a little nervous to go out with both of them, knowing that it would be even harder to keep her hands off Alex when she was drinking.

"Even better, we'll go straight from here!"

It was decided, so they walked back to the building not wanting to get too drunk. Piper and Alex awkwardly waiting for Nicky to leave but it seemed that the buzz distracted her enough to snuff any suspicions.

Alex insisted on driving Piper home, telling her _I need my shirt back anyways._ Piper wanted to talk to Alex about what was going on between them but she was having too much fun and didn't want to risk anything. Alex seemed so carefree, but Piper knew how calculated she could be so she decided to let the brunette bring the topic up when she felt the time was right. For now, she was just happy to be in this perfect car with an even more perfect woman.

Alex had paid for an hour of parking because it usually took about 10 minutes to get from outside up to Piper's apartment with other residents using the elevators.

And she made the most of that hour, Piper thought from underneath the woman on her bed as she raked her nails down Alex's almost bare back. Their mouths were like magnets, not even fully breaking apart when they needed to breathe. They didn't do more than practically eat each other's faces off though, because they knew it would last all night if they got started. Piper was eager to return the favor from last night but it wasn't the time.

Alex reluctantly dismounted the blonde and checked her watch, seeing that she was already 5 minutes past her hour of parking. She stood above he bed and Piper couldn't help but notice the predatory look in her eye as she looked down at the girl, still sprawled out on the bed with her hair a mess and shirt partially unbuttoned, collarbones littered with bite marks.

They whisper their goodbyes and Alex closes the door behind her, only to reopen it immediately and take one more peek at the girl before going home.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

 **So I realized that I messed up a little bit on the dates here and that the picnic would have taken place on the 4th of July, but I didn't mention this before. I just decided to throw it in kind of subtly so sorry that it's abrupt. Gonna get my shit together, I promise. Don't give up on me!**

 **What do you guys want to see? More smut? More fluff? Angst will come at some point, just haven't gotten it all worked out yet. Special thanks to** _ **toesareoverrated**_ **and guest** _ **Romy,**_ **your reviews tickle me. Seriously, I get super happy after each of your reviews even more so than normal.**

 **If anyone wants to help me out with this story or just let me bounce ideas off of you feel free to PM me because I think that would have helped me a lot during this chapter.**

 **Next chapter will be up tonight or tomorrow, it's pretty much already written because my internship ends tomorrow and they aren't giving me much to do ;)**

Alex and Nicky pulled up at 10:59am on the 4th to take Piper with them to the picnic. Of course Alex is extremely punctual. Piper wondered what could possibly be wrong with this woman. Nicky had to work hard to convince the other two that she needed a tour before they were going anywhere, but they gave in. It was a quick tour, but every time they entered a room, vacant or occupied, she had a new way of expressing how impressed she was. _This place is the shit_ she exclaimed in front of Piper's 72 year old floor mate. _These people really don't fuck around!_ she shouted, interrupting the blonde's downstairs neighbor's date with her vulgarity. Alex quickly convinced Nicky that they needed to leave to make it in time for the volleyball game so with that, they were off. Nicky in the front seat of course, which Piper didn't really mind. She enjoyed watching the banter between the two older engineers; their vocabularies were extensive, Nicky's a little more explicit, and they never got offended at the awful things they said to each other. They talked about where to watch the fireworks and settled on going to Piper's rooftop so they could see the city and the water simultaneously.

They all hopped out at once. Piper was wearing a pair of denim short shorts, a white pair of converse, and an red tank top. Alex wore a pair of yoga pants and a white V neck, and Nicky wore a pair of sweats and a blue tank top. They were quite the bunch, the three of them feeling quite patriotic as they formed the colors of the American flag. The game was starting at 12:30, so they had some time to relax and socialize before shit got too real. There were two other Hermann offices from nearby cities at the park and it seemed that most people who got a job at Hermann retired with Hermann. Nicky quickly found a woman named Lorna from the Everett office and spent the majority of the time on her blanket chatting her up like they were at a bar. Alex and Piper were happily alone in the crowd as the brunette set out a picnic blanket. They went to get food before it was all gone, Piper grabbing a hot dog and some Greek salad, Alex sticking with a plate of fruit salad and a piece of pizza. They sat cross legged facing each other and Piper couldn't stop staring at the way Alex's red lips parted, exposing her bright white teeth as she bit pieces of pineapple and strawberries off her fork. It was like she was trying to torture Piper. _Wait it's Alex, she is definitely doing this to torture me._

Alex lay back, propping herself up on her elbows with her head back and neck exposed while Piper remained cross legged next to her. They chatted about work for a little bit and a few people Alex knew came up to say hi and introduce themselves to Piper. Alex never introduced her as _Bill's daughter_ which she was grateful for. She wanted to be her own person here, not the spawn of one of their coworkers. Piper remained mostly quiet, just enjoying the sight of Alex laughing with other engineers and architects as they joked about their bosses or began shit talking each other's volleyball teams.

Eventually Nicky's booming voice hushed the crowd and called everyone over to take their places. Lorna was the ref from the Everett office and handed Nicky a spare whistle. _Why in god's name would anyone give that woman a whistle?_ Piper wondered to herself as she stood next to Alex directly in front of the net. They were the only women on their team but Alex was by far the tallest, Piper not too far behind. The game went fast since, let's be honest, they're engineers not athletes. Nicky blew the whistle at least every 45 seconds calling various fouls that didn't exist, trying to give her team a leg up even though it was unnecessary. The team repeatedly passed the ball to Alex, who perfectly set it up for Piper to spike and they won the game after an especially good smack to the ball from the blonde. Alex grabbed her and threw her over her shoulder, running barefoot through the sand for a few seconds before quickly setting her down, probably realizing that this wasn't normal coworker behavior. Nicky gave Alex a look but went back to chatting with Lorna as the rest of the Bellevue office celebrated. The keg was apparently a myth, but Piper still had a good time.

The crowd started to thin and Nicky ran over to the blanket where Piper and Alex relaxed, exhausted after the game.

"Yo Lorna is gonna come out with us tonight so I don't have to be a third wheel." Piper surmised that Alex must have told her about them, which was fine with her. The brunette seemed pretty happy about this, telling Nicky that was a good idea.

"Are you gonna DD then?" Alex seemed hopeful.

"Fuck man, I guess I can do that... but I get to drive the Tesla!" She now seemed excited about the idea, and Alex reluctantly agreed as long as she didn't drive like a maniac.

They went to a place called the Yard House right in downtown Seattle to start out the night, where Nicky immediately dared Alex to drink a yard of PBR.

"PBR Nicky? I can't have something a little more classy?" Alex's pained expression on her face only seemed to urge Nicky on.

"Hey, if you can't handle it feel free to back out. Pussy." This was all it took for Alex as she ordered the drink (receiving a judgmental look from the waitress) and drank it within the next 15 minutes. Nicky drank 2 Jaegerbombs (just to get a little buzz), Lorna drank fruity blended drinks, and Piper drank various tequila drinks. When Nicky was okay to drive they ventured over to Capitol Hill and went to a gay bar called C. 's. Alex was pretty buzzed from the yard of PBR she drank so quickly and the various other drinks she gulped down, Piper feeling more than tipsy after drinking two margaritas and taking 3 shots, some sort of special 4th of July deal made up of red white and blue shots. Nicky and Lorna were off in the corner flirting with each other when the song _Wasted_ by Tiesto came on and Alex grabbed Piper's hand pulling her to the dance floor. Piper was never one to dance, especially in clubs, but this woman made her do things she didn't normally do, so she went with the flow. It took mere moments for Alex's hands to end up on Piper's hips, pulling her ass into her thighs. She whispered some of the dirtiest things Piper's ears had ever heard, the least explicit being something about how Piper would be _sitting on her face and cumming until she saw stars_. This was all it took for Piper to lose her mind, obediently following as Alex dragged her to the bathroom. As soon as the door shut and locked Piper was sitting on the counter, her nearly bare ass on the cold tile. Alex was between her knees, pressing their bodies together as she pulled her hair back and kissed her exposed neck sloppily. Drunk Alex was a lot louder than sober Alex, Piper noticed. She grabbed the brunettes ass cheeks and gave them a firm squeeze and Alex moaned. It was a loud moan. Too loud. They were interrupted by loud knocking that Alex tried to ignore but eventually she helped Piper down and they walked out of the bathroom past a frustrated bartender.

The next thing Piper remembered was being on the roof sitting on Alex's lap watching the fireworks reflect off the water. She turned to see Alex, face flicking with the light from the explosions that were clearly visible through the reflection in her glasses.

Then she woke up. It was bright and her eyes, head... everything was sore. Possibly a mix between the volleyball and the hangover, but whatever it was wasn't good. Alex must have been feeling better because when Piper finally opened her eyes she was looking into deep green eyes. She felt her eyes widen an she blinked once, trying to remember what the hell happened last night. Alex just laughed and ran her fingers through Piper's hair before handing her a glass of water. She finished the glass and fell back against her pillows with a groan.

The next thing she knew she was waking up to the smell of bacon. _Where the hell did she get bacon?_ She opened her eyes and since the stove was about 5 feet from the foot of the bed she was met with a perfect image. Alex, wearing just her white V neck from last night, yoga pants nowhere in sight, facing away from her cooking bacon. It was definitely something she could get used to. Alex must have seen her movement in the reflection on the stainless steel because she turned around shortly after.

"I went to that store downstairs and got hangover food. Actually I just got bacon... but that's hangover food right?" She was clearly doubting herself as her eyebrows furrowed before she turned back around to focus on cooking again.

Eventually Piper's hangover mellowed down and they sat in her bed leaning their backs against the wall for support. Piper's body was relaxed but her mind was racing. _The Office_ was playing on her wall mounted TV and Alex's attention was on the show, absentmindedly drawing shapes on Piper's hipbone with the arm that was around her waist.

Piper couldn't stop thinking about what they were and apparently it was showing because Alex grabbed the Xbox controller and paused the show, turning to look at Piper.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on? Because if Jim pretending to be Dwight doesn't make you at least smile then I don't think this is going to work out." She was joking, but Piper couldn't help what she blurted out.

"What isn't going to work out? What are we doing?"

Alex's eyebrows raised, showing her shocked reaction for a split second before she pushed her glasses on top of her head.

" _Oh._ " She rubbed her face. "I don't know Pipes. What do you want us to be doing?"

This question stumped her because as much as she'd thought about what this _was_ she didn't think about what she _wanted_ it to be. Alex lived across the bridge in Bellevue, and she was still in college. How would this ever work after the internship was done? Alex was an adult and Piper still felt like a child.

"Care to share with the class? I can see you thinking."

"I just..." She didn't know what to say, how to explain what was in her head.

"We don't have to label this. Not everything is definable." Piper's heart fell. Alex didn't want to label this, she didn't want anything more than whatever they were doing. This was why she didn't want to bring this up in the first place.

"Okay. Yeah. Okay, you're right." Piper took a deep breath and internally cursed herself for bringing this up in the first place. This was exactly why she didn't want to do this.

"Come here." Piper looked over, confused by Alex's request.

"I am here?" Alex laughed and pulled Piper on top of her.

 _Maybe she didn't want to label this because I haven't even touched her below the belt._ She quickly moved her mouth to Alex's, pressing their lips together in short frequent kisses as her hands reached for the hem of her shirt. She could feel Alex hesitate for a second but was already shoving her tongue in her mouth, only stopping to remove the woman's shirt.

"Pipes..." She whispered before Piper continued the assault on her mouth and frantically grabbed at the clasp of her bra. She could feel the hesitation in the woman again and felt panic in her stomach. _Does Alex not want this? Is she just here because she feels like she has to be? Or does she think I'm going to be terrible at this because I can't even get her bra off right now?_

She quickly scooted down to Alex's stomach leaving her bra on, kissing the taut skin frantically, barely able to appreciate how good it looked and felt on her lips. She felt Alex take a deep breath before strong hands were under her armpits pulling her back up.

"Piper." She was frowning. She looked... concerned? "I can practically hear your heartbeat. What's going on right now?"

"I just... I owe you." This earned a laugh from Alex but it didn't make Piper's heart swell like it usually did. She could feel a lump in her throat. It felt like Alex was laughing at her inexperience. At her childishness.

"Pipes you don't owe me anything. That's not what this is about."

" _This._ "

"Okay... so you clearly _do_ want to define _this_. I'm not a mind reader Piper. You have to tell me if something is bothering you."

Piper looked down and nodded, still straddling Alex. The brunette lifted her off and lay next to her on her side, their faces inches apart.

"I like you." Piper's heart fluttered at these words.

"I like you too." She responded and immediately felt like she was floating. Like these words had been holding her down since she woke up this morning.

"See there's a good start. That wasn't too bad was it?" The brunette teased and Piper shook her head.

"Piper." Alex took the girls face in her hands and looked into her eyes. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?" The tone was almost teasing, smug, but the look in her eyes told Piper she was dead serious.

Her heart jumped so fast that she was sure it stopped beating for a second. She didn't expect this at all. The smile on her face hurt her cheeks it was so big as she fervently nodded.

"Well that's that then. It's easy if you just say what's on your mind. You have to tell me this kind of stuff if you're my girlfriend, though. I'm an engineer not a psychologist."

"Okay. I will."

"So what do you want to do today _girlfriend?_ " Alex asked teasingly.

Piper smiled even bigger but then groaned at the thought of doing anything but laying in bed.

"Watch movies and do nothing all day?"

10 minutes later Alex had already ordered pizza and Piper was picking out enough movies to last the entire day. She decided to just pick her top favorite movies because even though she had seen them all many times she had never seen them with Alex. Everything was different with Alex.

When they watched _The Devil Wears Prada_ Alex nudged Piper saying _look how much worse it could be than doing shitty specs?_

They had a brief conversation about how Cameron Diaz could still be so hot while they watched _The Holiday._

Alex argued when Piper put _Elf_ in, saying that they already watched _The Holiday_ and it was the middle of summer, but she sure as shit did laugh her ass off when Will Ferrell ran into the wall when trying to run out of the bathroom.

Piper was especially surprised when Alex knew all of the parts in _Mean Girls._ Piper giggled as Alex shouted _you go Glen Coco_! She was concerned for a second when Alex spoke over the movie.

"Pipes, can I ask you a question?" Her voice was serious and her eyebrows were furrowed, but then in perfect unison with Regina George she asked, "Is butter a carb?" This earned her a hard smack to the face with a spare pillow and launched them into a pillow fight straight out of a shitty porno about lesbian college students, but fuck if they weren't having a great time.

Eventually they settle down and Piper lays her head on Alex's chest as they look out the window at the bright lights from CenturyLink field shining through the window before drifting to sleep, too lazy to get up and close the blinds.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:**

 **So I just finished my internship and have 5 days off before school starts. I'll be gone for the next few days but I'll be writing on my phone so I should have a couple updates when I get back. There may be one more update before I leave but only time will tell.**

 **Thanks again for all the feedback! It keeps me motivated.**

It wasn't until the next weekend that she finally saw Alex's house. Yes, house. _Who the actual fuck owns an house in Bellevue at her age?_

The week was pretty long due to the fact that they decided to keep their relationship under the radar. Bill didn't need to find out about Piper's sexuality from a coworker, they decided, and Piper wasn't ready to talk to him about it yet.

Alex made those spontaneous trips to Piper's cubicle at least twice a day, getting more dominant and intense each time. The last time she stopped by she grabbed the back of Piper's chair and tipped it back so far that Piper almost fell out, only saved by her fists clenched tightly to her girlfriends incredibly sexy fitted blazer as her tongue explored the blonde's mouth. Piper tried to pull this move on Alex 3 times but always found herself pinned to the cubicle wall before she could even touch Alex. It was like she had eyes in the back of her head or something, not that Piper was complaining. There wasn't a lot of foot traffic around their part of the office so it wasn't such reckless behavior, even if it was probably the most defiant thing Piper had ever been involved in.

They were only at Alex's house for a few minutes with the promise of a better tour another time. Today they were going to Pike Place Market with Nicky. Piper mentioned going there to get groceries earlier that week only to find out Alex had only been once when she first moved here and Nicky hadn't been in about 4 years. Lorna wasn't able to make it so as soon as they got off work they stopped by Alex's place and then they were off to downtown Seattle.

They stopped at a buffet in the International District on the way there. As soon as they sat down Nicky spoke up.

"I bet I could put away more food than you." This was directed at Alex because they all knew she could outdo Piper any day. Piper dropped her face into her hands knowing Alex would accept the offer.

They stood quickly, followed by Piper as they walked around grabbing equal amounts of the same food to make sure the competition was even. Nicky refused to eat the sushi and Alex vetoed some of the questionable dishes that weren't labeled.

Piper was full after only two plates. The other two were each 4 plates in after an hour, both lying about how hungry they still were. They were receiving dirty looks from the staff and other diners, but surprised Piper by going back and forth over and over, each one determined to win.

"Are you even betting for anything?"

"It's all about winning babe." Alex responded through a mouthful of a piece of bread.

"This is such a turnoff." Piper groaned, looking out the window to try keep this image from getting burned into her head.

Their discussion was interrupted by the owner who told them they had to leave due to their excessive portions.

Nicky quickly made a scene saying something about _I thought this was America_ while Alex laughed and Piper turned beet red from the unwanted attention.

"We'll settle it another way Nicky, let's go."

They walked around Pike Place daring each other to do ridiculous things.

Alex dared Nicky to go harmonize with a musician who was playing for tips.

Nicky dared Alex to swallow a small fish whole from one of the vendors.

Alex told Nicky to go ask a cop for her number, laughing boisterously as she was quickly rejected.

Nicky forced Alex to walk around with no shoes on, embarrassing Piper terribly.

Alex bought a bouquet of flowers for Piper to bring back that bright smile on her face, then she dared Nicky to eat one of the flowers, stem and all.

Nicky dared Alex to catch a fish thrown by one of the vendors. They really only do that for famous people, so Nicky and Piper were both surprised when Alex sweet talked one of the guys into letting her behind the case and she perfectly caught the salmon heaved at her.

They were running low on Ideas when Alex told Nicky to eat a piece of gum off the gum wall. She actually did it and Piper spoke up.

"You guys have to stop! It's just getting gross and dangerous. You could get herpes or something Nicky."

Alex leaned over to Nicky and whispered one last bet into her ear. Piper wasn't sure if she even wanted to know what it was. Nicky was looking smug, apparently thinking whatever it was would never happen.

"Babe, let's go on it!" Alex exclaimed as they stood under the Great Wheel. She didn't wait for an answer as she pulled Piper into line to get tickets.

"How will I know?" Nicky shouted over the crowd.

"Oh you'll know." Alex laughed before returning her attention to the blonde.

They were the only two in their chair on the ferris wheel and as soon as the ride started moving Alex grabbed Piper's waist and started assaulting her neck.

"Al," Piper pleaded. "We can't do that here."

"Oh really?" Her hands flew under Piper's shirt and roughly grabbed her over her bra.

"No, we can't!" Piper panted.

"Then tell me to stop. And you have to mean it."

Piper's jeans were already unbuttoned and quickly pulled to just below her knees before Alex hastily thrust two fingers into her, causing her to cry out and lean her head back. Alex got down on her knees in the little space they had began circling around her clit with her tongue. Piper's head remained back and she looked up at the stars trying to control her exclamations as Alex quickly pumped in and out of her.

The blonde grabbed her own hair just to hold on to something as Alex's pace quickened, the come hither motion of her fingers driving Piper insane. The licks became harder and faster along with Piper's breathing. They must have been at the top of the wheel already because Piper felt the acceleration switch directions, now moving them back down to the ground.

"Fuck, Alex!" She groaned, fingers still tangled in her own hair as Alex's eyes looked directly into hers. Alex suddenly sucked Piper's clit into her mouth, gently biting before flicking it with her tongue repeatedly. This was the last straw for Piper and she cried out one loud moan, soaking Alex's fingers and mouth. Alex slowed her pace and removed her tongue, eventually pulling out of Piper and sucking her fingers into her mouth. Piper just stayed put, pants now around her ankles and face flushed.

"I can't believe you. You're insatiable." Piper panted while the brunette removed her fingers from her mouth and pulled Piper's pants up for her.

When they got off the ride, Alex led the way back toward Nicky while Piper followed with messy hair and shaky knees.

"Wow Vause, you're right. You win." She shook her head incredulously. "Fucking college kids these days." This one was directed at Piper who was now even more red. Usually she would have been furious that she was a part of a bet, but honestly it was hot as fuck and she certainly enjoyed herself. She knew Alex wasn't just using her.

Once they dropped Nicky off they headed back to Piper's place. They were both pretty beat from the long day but they only stopped at Piper's apartment briefly, grabbing a couple cans of Rainier before heading up to the roof to enjoy the night. They sat by the gas fire pit sharing a chair and looking out at the water.

"I can't believe how happy I am right now." Piper said as she looked at Alex's profile. The woman was stunning... It almost wasn't fair. But it was, only because Piper got to see her face so much.

"Me too kid." Alex finally looked over at Piper and the look in her eyes was indescribably gentle. The blonde was amazed at how this woman next to her could be so kind and comforting yet mysterious and strong at the same time.

They finished their drinks and went back to Piper's apartment. It was becoming routine for Alex to spend the entire weekend at Piper's place. It was nice because they could be completely alone but as soon as they stepped out the door they were smack in the middle of all the action of the city. When they got back inside they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Piper was straddling her girlfriend and they looked at each other for some unknown amount of time before their lips met in a soft, relaxed kiss. Alex's hands quickly tangled in Piper's hair as the kiss deepened, the blonde taking the lead for once. She took Alex's shirt off and sat up taking in the sight below her. She ran her hands down Alex's stomach, enjoying the feeling of the quivering muscles she was causing. She bit her lip and looked back up to Alex and slowly reached around her body this time successfully removing her bra. Her eyes widened as she looked down at Alex's breasts, wondering how the fuck she went this long without staring at them since this internship began. She bent down and took a nipple in her mouth, reveling in the sound it evoked from the brunette. The thought that she just caused that sound soaked her panties within a matter of seconds as she continued licking, nibbling, and sucking at her nipple. Finally she gained the courage to continue her journey, kissing and licking down Alex's ribcage to her hipbones. She had never gone down on a woman before, which Alex knew even though neither of them actually talked about it. She just did what felt right, and it seemed to be working as Alex's breathing quickened and she let out gentle moans at certain movements.

She gingerly unbuttoned the brunettes pants and pulled them down the never ending length of her legs. Her panties slid down about an inch at the action and Piper couldn't help but stop to stare for a few seconds before sliding them down as well. She looked up at Alex unsure what her expression would be and when she saw her face she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Alex's eyes were piercing into her own and they looked so kind and loving and patient that all of her nerves were washed away. It was insane how much emotion could come from those emerald eyes without a word being spoken.

Piper carefully put her hands on Alex's inner thighs and pushed them apart, lips parting as she took in the sight before her. She looked up at Alex again and slowly closed the distance between her face and the woman's center. Her tongue peeked out between light pink lips and she licked a long line all the way up to her clit, just barely touching the woman. Apparently she was touching her at least a little bit though, because Alex's sharp intake of breath was audible. This was the subtle encouragement she needed as she deepened the contact, spreading Alex's lips with her tongue and taking a less hesitant lap at the moisture that she created. She could barely hear a _fuck_ escape from Alex's lips as she grazed her clit, so she focused her attention there with light nudges from the tip of her tongue that eventually evolved into small circles. She spelled her name out on Alex's clit with the tip of her tongue, wondering if the brunette could tell what she did. Her right hand finally left Alex's thigh and traced the skin towards her center. She circled the woman's opening, not 100% sure of herself, before pressing one finger slowly inside of Alex. A loud intake of breath was audible so she added another finger and began slowly pumping them in and out of her. This earned her some soft moans from Alex before she realized she had stopped moving her tongue, so she quickly went back to tracing circles on her clit. She tried the come hither motion that Alex used on her before and she felt Alex's legs begin to quiver. She knew from experience what this meant so she quickened the circles and began thrusting harder, finally gaining the courage to look up at the brunette again. Her head was back against the pillow and her chest was heaving as she moaned louder and louder. After one hard lick and a deep thrust she felt Alex's hands shoot to her hair as if they had been trying to stay out of it since this started. She didn't pull her hair or push her deeper though, just grabbed on tight and whispered Piper's name over and over as her legs shook. Eventually her hands released their grip on Piper's hair but the blonde wasn't sure if she should stop or not. She removed her tongue and thrust her fingers a few more times for good measure before Alex pulled her up to her face again and kissed her softly on the lips.

Alex didn't say anything. She just looked into Piper's eyes before kissing her again and again until their eyelids got heavy and they both drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**

 **So I didn't write at all this weekend because I was a lot busier than expected. I honestly spent a long time trying to figure out what to do with this chapter and I ended up getting drunk as I wrote it so if there are a lot of typos later into the chapter I apologize... but I was struggling.**

 **Did you guys watch the Emmys? So happy for Uzo and dear god did the cast look amazing!**

 **Thanks again for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! They make me so happy.**

Alex drove Piper home from the next Monday. She insisted on giving Piper rides home most days, saying she liked the extra time with her anyways and she liked driving her car. Piper felt guilty but had trouble saying no to Alex.

They were on the freeway when the car began to slow down. Piper looked up at Alex to see her eyes widen.

"Pipes, I think we're running out of gas!" She sounded completely panicked.

"Shit! What do we do? I've never run out of gas before and we're on the freeway!" Piper's response was rushed as she looked around as if she could literally find a solution outside of the car.

The car sped back up to its original speed and Piper looked over to see a huge smirk plastered on Alex's face. She repeatedly asked Alex what was going on before realizing they were in a fucking electric car and she smacked Alex's arm a little harder than intended.

"Jesus Pipes, you're stronger than you look." She replied while rubbing her arm.

Once they got off the freeway and were heading towards Piper's building she looked out the window toward the gas station by her place.

"Alex! Pull in there!" She shouted and began digging through her purse.

"What? You know I was joking about the gas thing... you know... electric car?" Alex was clearly confused.

"No I know just pull in!" She pulled a sandwich out of her purse as Alex pulled into the parking lot and Piper quickly hopped out of the car with her sandwich in her hand. She ran toward one of the homeless men standing outside and he pulled her into a huge hug.

His name was Leon. Piper met him when she first moved to Seattle and was drunk and lost after attending a shitty frat party. She left the party alone and wandered around until she saw the gas station. Once she got there he came up to her and helped her call a cab while waiting for her and making sure none of the more dangerous addicts came up to her. The next week she saw him there and brought him some food and sat and talked with him for a while. It became a sort of ritual for her to stop by a couple times a week after school and bring him some snacks while they talked about their days.

They hugged for a long time, probably at least a full minute, before pulling away. She hadn't seen Leon since she got her internship as she had been gone most hours of the day and with Alex most nights.

"Girl, I thought you finally forgot about my sorry ass!" He joked as he gratefully took the sandwich she offered him. Piper's grin was huge.

"Of course not. I've been busy with my internship..." She turned to see Alex standing outside the car looking completely befuddled and a little bit worried. "Alex!" She shouted at her girlfriend and beckoned her over.

"This is Leon. He saved my ass when I first moved here."

He extended his hand out to Alex and she took it with a friendly smile.

"This is Alex. She's my girlfriend." Piper announced proudly, like a first grader bringing in their pet frog for show and tell. Leon leaned back and blatantly checked her out.

"Damn girl!" He said to Piper before turning to Alex. "You best take care of this one." It was almost threatening and Piper lightly shoved him.

"I'm gonna run inside really quick," Alex informed Piper and jogged into the store.

"You best lock that shit down P, that ass is calling me." He raised his eyebrows as he clearly looked at Alex's ass.

"Ugh. You're vulgar. She could probably kick your ass." Piper mumbled shaking her head at the man. They talked about Piper's internship and Leon's observations of the day and Alex returned with 3 Slurpees. She got all different flavors, letting Piper choose first (cherry of course) and Leon gratefully accepted the Coke flavored one, leaving her with the blue raspberry for herself. Piper hugged Leon one more time before returning to the car as Alex shook his hand.

Alex sat next to Piper and looked at her with an expression she couldn't identify. She pulled down the mirror and looked at herself, assuming she had something on her face.

"What?" She was a little worried.

"I just can't believe you. I never would have pegged you as the type of girl to befriend a guy like Leon. You're kind of amazing."

Piper just shrugged and loudly slurped her drink, grinning a little bit at her ability to surprise Alex while they drove to her building.

The couple went straight to the roof with their Slurpees and sat facing the stadium. There was a Sounders game and they had an almost perfect view of the soccer field. Most of the other residents actually _went_ to the games so they were alone as usual. Piper stood up and cheered as the home team scored and Alex just looked at her and laughed.

"Babe your tongue is bright ass red." She explained when Piper sat back down and gave her a confused look. Alex stuck her own tongue out and caught a glimpse of blue and they both laughed at each other. They ventured into one of the lounge areas and watched the game on the TV so they could get a better view and relax on the couch, Piper sitting with her legs on Alex's lap as the brunette rubbed her calves. They were both fully aware of the security cameras in the room so the massage was chaste, just another act of kindness from the brunette.

Piper was distracted as she stared at the screen, not realizing that there was less than an inch of her Slurpee left as she sucked through the straw repeatedly making an annoying slurping sound. Alex had been staring at her for about 5 minutes before she couldn't help but say something.

"I swear to god if you don't stop making that noise I'll never buy you a Slurpee again." There was a smirk on her face that gave her away immediately as Piper smiled sheepishly before returning her attention to the game.

They stepped back outside just before the game ended and watched the fireworks in celebration of the Sounders victory, placing innocent kisses on each other's lips and faces before Alex had to go home and get ready for work the next day.

...

Piper and Alex arrived to work at the same time the next day. Alex had figured out exactly what time the blonde's bus showed up at (once again showing how calculated her every move was) and usually they caught the elevator together. They kissed a couple times before arriving on the 17th floor and were both completely shocked when the doors opened. There stood Bill Chapman speaking with the receptionist. They shared a swift glance before stepping off the elevator, causing Bill to turn around.

"Hey honey! The meeting got pushed back so I figured I'd stop by and see you before we fly out later today." Piper hadn't seen her dad in a long time so it was nice to see him, it just caught her a little off guard. She found herself hoping he would be gone before lunch time so she could spend it with Alex before realizing that was pretty inconsiderate.

"Hi daddy!" She heard Alex snicker a little bit at the use of _daddy_ and knew the brunette would be teasing her later about being a daddy's girl. She told her father all about the assignments she was working on, making sure to tell him how great Alex had been (obviously leaving out some of her favorite parts about the brunette).

"Chapman you old mother fucker!" Nicky was yelling before she was even off the elevator, clearly having a good relationship with Bill. This felt pretty weird to Piper because the woman had seen her get off the ferris wheel after Alex had clearly fucked her and they had gotten drunk together multiple times. Not that she thought Nicky would say anything to her dad, but it just felt really awkward to share a friend with her father.

Bill only spent about 30 minutes at the office before heading to the airport. When Piper returns to her desk she notices that she has an unread email and she immediately goes to open it.

 **From: Vause, Alex (avause )**

 **Subject: Boiler Vendors**

 **Recieved: July 14th, 2015 10:34:00 AM**

 **Pipes,**

 **Aaron needs someone to contact a couple boiler manufacturers to get quotes for the Indy project. The email addresses for the sales departments will be on their websites, so you just need to send them the spec and ask if they have any boilers that would work for the project. I would do it but John wants you to practice interacting with vendors.**

 **If you need anything you know where I'll be.**

 **Alex Vause, PE, MBA, ENVISION SP**

 **Mechanical Engineer**

 **Hermann Engineering Co.**

 **Tel: (425) 450-7221**

 **Cell: (206) 393-8652**

Piper can't help but smile at how Alex always feels bad for giving her busy work and how professional they have to be over email. If there were ever to be a security issue the tech department would search emails for key words so they always kept it professional just in case. The blonde went over to ask Alex which manufacturers are the best to contact but she wasn't at her cubicle. Frowning slightly she got up on her tip toes so she could see over the cubicle wall. She freezes when she sees Alex at her father's cubicle. She seems to be looking at something, so Piper walks a little closer to get a better look. When she can finally see enough she realizes that Alex is holding a framed photo that was on Bill's desk. The photo, Piper already knows, is one from when she was 4 or 5 years old. She's knee deep in ocean water and holding out a small crab with both hands with the most proud look on her face she'd ever seen. Alex had a totally dorky grin on her face and Piper couldn't help but mirror it seeing the brunette looking like a total softy. She decided to sneak back to her cubicle, stashing this moment for the next time Alex made fun of her so she could have a comeback.

Eventually Alex came back and went to Piper's cubicle to help her out, standing next to her and leaning over to control the mouse while the blonde looked at her cleavage not-so-subtly. The brunette smirked but continued explaining what she needed Piper to do before returning to her own space. Piper sent off an email to one of the vendors pretty quickly with Alex BCC'd, and went back to working on specs while she waited for a reply.

The reply came quickly.

 **From: Burns, Kevin**

 **Subject: RE:Boiler Quote**

 **Recieved: July 14th, 2015 11:49:00 AM**

 **Miss Chapman,**

 **The spec that you sent us was proprietary to Weston Boilers and needs quite a bit of editing. If you can figure out how to correctly formulate a spec that can be used by us let me know. You may want to leave this task to someone with experience, because you seem to be a little confused.**

 **Kevin Burns**

 **Sales Representitive**

 **Steamworks Boiler Co.**

She read over the email a few times with a frown, wondering why this guy was being so rude to her. She was going to go ask Alex how to respond before she heard the woman slam her hand on her desk and start typing quickly. This scared her a little bit because Alex angry wasn't something she was very accustomed to so she decided not to tell her how rude this guy was and began looking over the spec to see what the problem was. _I did what Alex told me to... How could I have fucked this up?_ She continued looking at her screen a little distracted by the loud typing coming from Alex's cubicle. Eventually the typing stopped and Piper saw an email notification pop up on her desktop. It was from Alex. Apparently she also received the man's response to the email. She heard Alex's chair roll back forcefully as she stood up and shoved it back in place before her loud footsteps carried her off to the kitchen.

 **From: Vause, Alex (avause )**

 **Subject: RE:Boiler Quote**

 **Recieved: July 14th, 2015 12:04:00 PM**

 **Kevin,**

 **Obviously the spec is proprietary to Weston Boiler because that was the previous manufacturer of the boiler we are replacing. You should know that our intern is** _ **very**_ **capable of correctly formatting a spec. We are looking to spend upwards of $300,000 on this boiler but apparently Steamworks has no interest in working with us, so please don't bother trying to figure out how to read a spec on our account.**

 **Alex Vause, PE, MBA, ENVISION SP**

 **Mechanical Engineer**

 **Hermann Engineering Co.**

 **Tel: (425) 450-7221**

 **Cell: (206) 393-8652**

Piper's jaw dropped after reading the email. She knew Alex cared about her but she never expected the brunette to stand up for her like this, especially in the workplace. She now realized that this guy was the cause of Alex's anger. Piper went to the break room to find Alex drinking a cup of coffee and immediately noticed how angry she still looked.

"Hey," She spoke gently to the woman. "Thanks, Alex."

When Alex saw the blonde her face softened.

"People shouldn't act like that. If anyone ever treats you like that you have to tell me." It wasn't a request. Piper's heart fluttered in her chest at how intimidating yet comforting the brunette in front of her was. "Let's go to lunch." This wasn't a question either, but Piper wanted to go with her either way.

They sat next to each other on their usual bench eating Seattle dogs in silence. Alex was clearly still mad and Piper didn't know what to do about it. It wasn't like she was mad at Piper at all so she couldn't apologize. Eventually Alex spoke up.

"Sorry. I just don't like people speaking down to you. Like who the fuck does that guy think he is? You're brilliant and he's a fucking salesman. It's bullshit." She takes a deep breath to stop her own rant before putting her arm around Piper. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. I mean, it's kinda hot that you care that much." Piper responded with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. And it _was_ kinda hot.

"Yeah... Well I'm sorry if I'm being kind of a buzzkill." She replied with a small smile before standing up and offering her hand to Piper so they could return to the office.

About 45 minutes after they got back into the office Piper was working when she was interrupted by Alex clearing her throat. It was clearly fake and an attempt to get Piper's attention. She looked over toward their shared cubicle wall and found a piece of paper sticking out of the miniscule gap in the wall. It was a note written by Alex.

 _Do you like me? Circle one:_

 _Yes No_

Piper burst out laughing at how much a sap Alex could be sometimes. She was going to mess with her but decided against it, quickly circling yes and shoving it back through the gap. Seconds later the note was gone and she heard Alex's loud whisper.

"YES!" Piper couldn't control her giggling as Alex acted like a kid in elementary school despite her cool calm and collected demeanor. It was like whenever she was with Piper she would just tell the rest of the world to fuck off and be a complete dork just to make the blonde smile or laugh. It made Piper's heart race just thinking about it.

They passed dumb notes and doodles through the gap in the cubicle wall for the rest of the day, even when Piper could hear Alex having a heated phone conversation with someone from another department she managed to draw a pretty good picture of Piper and slip it through the crack. They played games of tic-tac-toe and Alex won 4 times in a row before Piper gave up and started drawing pictures again.

Eventually the day ended and Alex gave Piper a ride home.

"Come upstairs with me?" Piper knew Alex needed to go home but she had her secret weapon. The puppy dog eyes and pouty lip worked as Alex sighed and paid for a couple hours of parking.

Alex grabbed the lapels of Piper's blazer and pushed her against the wall as soon as they were upstairs. Her lips attacked Piper's, tongue immediately plunging into her mouth and exploring frantically. Piper's hands flew to Alex's ass before they were forcefully removed and pinned above her head.

Piper wasn't sure where this sudden urge came from but she sure as shit isn't complaining. Alex held both of her wrists still with her left hand as her right hand moved down to squeeze her breast through her shirt. Piper moaned into the brunettes mouth as she continued to squeeze her and it must have encouraged her because she suddenly began undoing the buttons on the blonde's blouse. She quickly became impatient, though, and grabbed her shirt, one hand on each side of the buttons and pulled hard, sending white buttons scattering along the floor. Piper gasped and thought briefly about complaining but once she saw the possessive look in Alex's eyes she decided against it. The woman quickly removed the ruined shirt and immediately reached around Piper with her right hand, removing her bra swiftly. She clearly wasn't in the mood to take things slow.

The next thing Piper knew Alex's nimble fingers had already unzipped her skirt and with a sharp tug it fell to the ground, pooling at Piper's feet. Her mouth was on Piper's neck now, both hands running up and down her sides as her thumbs brushed over the blonde's breasts with each movement. Piper was uncontrollably whimpering and grabbing onto those black locks like her life depended on it, just trying to stay upright at this point. Suddenly Alex was on her knees, pressing hot open mouthed kisses all over the blonde's torso, biting and sucking and leaving small pink and red marks all over her stomach and hips. Piper's breathing was still speeding up, her whole chest heaving with each breath. Alex didn't seem to be in the mood to tease as she pulled down Piper's panties and looked up at the girl. Piper's hair was ruffled, her cheeks pink and eyes wide from the sudden turn of events. Alex moaned at the sight and pulled one of Piper's legs over her shoulder, caressing her ass with both hands as she took in the sight in front of her.

Piper's hips bucked involuntarily, craving any sort of contact whatsoever. She was quickly rewarded by Alex's tongue making one slow, firm trail from her opening to _just_ under her clit. The blonde let out a huge breath and her hands tangled in Alex's hair, pushing her face toward where she needed her. Alex suddenly sucked her clit into her mouth, immediately flicking and nibbling on it to drive the blonde above her insane. She licked circles and undefined patterns all over the blonde's most sensitive spot, clearly enjoying how much she was struggling to stay on her feet. Alex was still fully clothed but Piper was completely naked except her heels, which meant only one heel was actually holding her up at this point. Piper didn't give a fuck.

She was moaning louder and louder by the second, hands gripping tighter and supporting leg wobbling uncontrollably. Then, seemingly out of the blue, there were two fingers inside of her. Two long, skilled, perfect fingers were inside of her, pressing against her walls between hard fast thrusts. Piper felt all of her muscles tensing up and saw Alex look up at her stomach, watching the muscles in her abdomen begin to clench. Piper let out one last loud moan before she went completely silent, grabbing on even tighter to those locks of hair on the head between her legs. Alex's left hand went to her hip and kept her upright while she continued licking and thrusting into the girl until she knew it was too much. She slowly stood up while carefully removing her fingers.

The next thing Piper knew she was on her back on the bed being straddled by Alex and told over and over _you're such a good girl Pipes, you're such a good girl._ Her breathing was finally steady when Alex surprised her again, slowly pushing two fingers back inside of her. Piper couldn't control herself and bit hard into Alex's collarbone, causing the brunette to add a third finger and continue thrusting.

"Come again baby..." Alex's husky whisper was almost enough to make her obey immediately. She quivered under the woman, continuing to moan once again. Alex's thumb found its way back to the blonde's sensitive clit, simply applying pressure without moving at all as she continued pumping in and out with her 3 fingers. Piper's legs suddenly wrapped around Alex's waist and all of her muscled tensed up, once again biting her collarbone and digging into her shoulders with her fingers. She gasped something that was supposed to be Alex's name before she did what Alex said and came again. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, muscles clenching and unclenching repeatedly before she was able to relax and fell back onto the mattress.

"Holy shit.." Was all Piper could say as she tried to control her breathing. Alex simply kissed her on each cheek, then her lips before sitting up next to her.

"Babe I have to go home tonight." She sounded regretful but they both knew she had to leave.

"It's okay... I'm probably going to just lay here all night." Piper had a small smile on her lips and she was being honest, she would probably turn on Netflix and fall asleep until the morning.

"Pipes, I-" Alex cut herself off clenching her eyes shut. "I'll see you at work tomorrow." She kissed her forehead and walked out the door. Piper lay there completely stunned, pretty sure she knew exactly what the brunette just stopped herself from saying.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

 **Pretty much a chapter of fluff, I'm losing motivation a little bit but I promise not to leave you guys hanging. This story probably won't go on for TOO much longer but I may consider a sequel in the future if that's what the people want.**

 **Thanks again for the reviews and follows/favorites! I love hearing that I'm keeping people up late when they have work the next morning... does that make me a bad person?**

It was finally Saturday and Piper was exhausted from the week. The emotional toll of _thinking_ your girlfriend was about to tell you she loved you before backing out at the last second would be hard on anyone, but on top of that Piper spent almost all day every day with her. Not that she was complaining about that part, because that seemed to be one of the reasons they've been moving so damn fast with this relationship. It dawned on Piper that maybe Alex wasn't going to say those three words, but every time she thought back to how Alex was acting she felt more certain that she was right.

After work on Friday night Alex was over at Piper's apartment and looking through the fridge after a rather exhausting few hours in bed. She was wearing one of her oversized tee shirts and... that was it. She shook her head and looked behind her shoulder at Piper who lay in bed in the small studio.

"Babe you have to get groceries. Do you even eat when you're not at work?" Piper frowned and tried to remember the last time she went grocery shopping.

"I eat!" She said defensively looking around at the takeout boxes from their Chinese food last night and a couple pizza boxes scattered around the room. "I just don't really cook... and getting groceries sucks without a car."

"Pipes one of the best things about having a girlfriend with a car is that you can actually ask me to borrow it sometimes. Or who knows, maybe I could even go shopping with you." Alex was raising her eyebrows and Piper was still cuddled under the comforter, somehow feeling guilty for not going grocery shopping. "Let's go today, kid. We can cook together."

Piper couldn't contain the huge smile that broke out on her face at the thought of shopping and cooking with Alex. They decided to go to Pike Place again, Alex promising this time there would be _no stupid dares_. On the short drive downtown they played a game where they guessed who were tourists and who were locals while Alex weaved through traffic with ease.

They decided to make pasta and a salad because according to Alex _it's pretty much impossible to fuck up, even for you._ Alex bought Piper another bouquet of flowers.

"For the pretty lady." She pulled the bouquet from behind her back even though Piper was standing right next to her when she bought them, making the blonde blush and smile big enough to expose most of her teeth. They shared a chaste kiss and continued brushing pasts tourists hand in hand until they came to one of the pasta stalls. Alex refused to share her opinion on what kind to get, insisting that this was for Piper.

"Babe, I'll like it no matter what. Just pick whatever you want." Piper was overwhelmed with how selfless Alex was. She'd always noticed these selfless actions but for the last couple days it was almost overwhelming how gallant her girlfriend was acting. She picked out the pasta and they continued their hunt for the best cheese and salad ingredients that the local market had to offer.

Alex purchased everything, including the incredibly expensive cheese and huge bag of fresh vegetables for their salad. The brunette refused to let Piper carry anything except her flowers, muscles taut against her tight white V neck as she lugged their groceries around the market.

Eventually they made their way back to Piper's and Alex loaded the food into the fridge before collapsing on the bed. Piper couldn't help herself from throwing herself on top of the brunette, for once gaining the upper hand and tickling her sides.

"Payback is a bitch baby!" She managed through her uncontrollable giggles, making Piper realize that she probably fucked up because with Alex payback was certainly going to be a bitch. After relaxing on the bed for a few minutes Alex got up first, pulling Piper up by her belt loops and leading her to the stove with her hands on her hips.

"Where are your pots?" Alex began looking around in cupboards, finding nothing until the blonde finally spoke up.

"Shit. Umm..." She started looking with Alex even though she knew she didn't own any pots large enough to cook pasta in. Alex realized this and stopped looking, backing up with her eyes now trained on the blonde.

"Pipes do you not have any pots or pans?" Her voice sounded like she was scolding Piper but the smirk on her face gave her away. "Jesus, you're such a college student. Come on let's go back down there."

She grabbed her purse and lead the way to the elevator.

They ended up going to the ridiculously over priced store in the bottom floor of the building.

"Al this stuff is way too expensive, let's just go somewhere else." Piper whined, not wanting to spend that much money on herself and feeling terrible for how much Alex had already spent so far.

"No, you shouldn't buy shitty pots and pans anyways. These will last forever. Do you have a salad bowl?" Piper looked down and shook her head so Alex grabbed a large wooden bowl and went to the counter to pay, putting her hand over Piper's wallet when the blonde tried to pay.

They eventually made their way back upstairs where Alex directed Piper to cut up the lettuce and vegetables for the salad while she cooked the pasta. The brunette frequently made trips to Piper's end of the counter to steal pieces of lettuce or slices of tomatoes, receiving a light smack to the arm every time.

The meal turned out delicious and they both ate way more than they should have, resulting in the two of them laying in bed occasionally groaning over the sound of an episode of Parks and Recreation. Piper wasn't paying attention to the show. She was thinking back to the other day when Alex had maybe almost told her she loved her. Piper knew she loved Alex and she was sure Alex loved her too. The brunette, who always seemed to be so nonchalant about everything, would make a complete ass out of herself to make Piper smile. She would take her out all day and spend obscene amounts of money on stuff Piper didn't even ask for. They spent way more time together than was probably healthy and the sex was indescribable. She looked to her right just in time to see Alex burst out in laughter, shaking the bed slightly with her hysterics. The blonde thought it might have been the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

"Babe you're doing it again." The brunette as looking at her now, laying on her side to face Piper.

She looked at Alex without speaking for about 5 seconds. The episode had ended and they were sitting in silence, not answering Netfix's question if they were still watching. Alex had always been the bold one in their relationship but she couldn't control herself.

"I love you!" She all but shouted it in Alex's face, unable to hold her tongue any longer. Her eyes widened as she surprised herself by just blurting it out in the woman's face. Alex's smile was immediate, exposing most of her perfect teeth, eyes crinkling. The silence was driving Piper insane. _Fuck, she wasn't going to say it the other day. I totally just caught her off guard and she doesn't know what to say._ Her chest was tightening in complete panic, wondering if the brunette would ever break the unbearable silence.

"I love you too." It was almost a whisper, the complete opposite of Piper's outburst. It was slow and careful and everything Piper needed to hear. "I love you." She repeated it a little more firmly this time and Piper let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Piper scooted closer until their foreheads were touching, both of them enjoying the silence for a few moments.

Alex broke the distance between them and kissed Piper over and over, whisperings of _I love you_ between each kiss. Her hands found their way to Piper's cheeks and she deepened the kiss, nibbling on the blonde's lower lip softly. The kissed languidly for minutes or hours, neither knew how long it lasted but they never wanted it to end. Eventually they both sat up, Piper's head on Alex's shoulder while they decided what to do with the rest of their night. Apparently Alex got an idea because she stood up, pulling up her pants by her belt loops and offering a hand to Piper.

"Where are we going?" The blonde questioned, taking Alex's lead as they put their shoes on.

"You'll see." Her smug reply was left hanging in the ear as she walked to the elevator.

Eventually they pulled up in front of a brick building in the SODO area with a large green plus sign on it. Piper wasn't exactly sure what this place was until she saw what it was called. _Cannabis City_ wasn't the most discreet name for a pot shop. Unsurprisingly, the blonde had never been to a pot shop before despite the new legality of marijuana.

The store was clean and organized, not exactly what Piper expected. Alex purchased two of their best selling joints, both flashing their ID's for the cashier before returning to Piper's place. It was just before sunset, so Piper decided to be a little rebellious and use her key to get them into the other apartment building next door called the Nolo. It was only 8 or 9 floors, made out of cool brick instead of pure glass like her building. For some reason the keys worked in both buildings even though the rooftops weren't a shared amenity between the two. The view wasn't quite as extensive, but the top of the space needle was visible and the Great Wheel was closer, it's multicolor frame reflecting beautifully against the water. This rooftop was nice because while it wasn't as high up it made them feel like a part of the city a little more. The bars neighboring the building were closer and they could eavesdrop on the people on the sidewalk with ease. Alex put a joint between her lips and pulled a lighter out of her pocket. She lit the joint and inhaled an impressively large hit of the substance, holding it in for a few seconds before cupping her hand around the back of Piper's head to pull her closer as she exhaled into the blonde's open mouth. Their lips met and they kissed for a moment before Piper exhaled, surprising herself by not coughing. She had smoked weed a few times at parties but usually ended up making a complete ass of herself, so she was thankful to look a little more sophisticated in front of her girlfriend. They repeated this action a few more times and that was all it took for Piper to become sufficiently giggly and elated. Alex took a few more hits to herself before pinching the tip and returning it to the plastic tube it came in. They sat in silence with goofy smiles on their faces, simply taking in the beauty of the Seattle skyline from their perch.

It took about 30 minutes for one of them to speak up and Piper immediately fell into a fit of giggles, causing Alex to laugh with her. Once Piper finally stopped laughing Alex must have missed the sound because she told Piper the excruciatingly long eggplant joke that belonged to Nicky. Piper was laughing until she couldn't breathe not because she understood the joke, but because it felt like Alex was talking for an hour and the words were just going in one ear and out the other. Her face was aching and her abs were burning when she finally calmed down enough and they sat in silence for a few more minutes before returning to Piper's apartment to go to sleep.

Piper woke up to see Alex doing the forgotten dishes from the previous night. She immediately felt painful cramps in her abdomen, signifying that wonderful time of the month. She rolled over and put a pillow over her head with a groan and didn't see when Alex turned to see her and smiled. The brunette continued with her dishes somewhat noisily and eventually Piper sat straight up with a frown on her face, hair a complete mess and loose tank top falling off one shoulder.

"Alex!" It was a mix between a whine and a shout and resulted in the brunette turning the water off and leaning against the counter with her arms crossed.

"Can I help you?" She inquired while drying her hands off with a dish towel, eyebrows raised with a smirk on her face at the disheveled appearance of the blonde.

"Yes by not being so loud!" She almost sounded like a little kid and her own voice pissed her off even more. She fell back on the bed with a loud huff, leaving the brunette a little confused as to where this outburst was coming from.

"Babe someone had to do the dishes." She reasoned, earning another dramatic huff from the horizontal blonde in front of her. Piper knew she was being a little bit ridiculous but she didn't care thanks to the wonderful hormones. Another painful pang to her abdomen caused her to curl up and whine and it seemed like Alex finally understood what was going on.

"Aww, Pipes," She grabbed some Midol and a glass of water and joined Piper on the bed, pulling her head into her lap and detangling her hair with her fingers. "Here, take this."

Piper sat up just enough not to spill water all over herself and laid back down with a sigh.

"Do you want to just order some food and do nothing all day?" They had planned to go walk around downtown, but Piper couldn't even stand the thought of all the people and the heat so she simply nodded face down in Alex's lap. The brunette caressed the back of her head with her left hand while she browsed through her phone on the right hand, trying to think of what she would want on her period.

"What do you want?" Piper thought about it for a few minutes before speaking into Alex's lap.

"Thai food." She said into the fabric of Alex's yoga pants, but it came out so muffled that she knew Alex didn't hear her so she sat up and repeated herself. Alex pulled up one of the higher rated Thai restaurants in the area (there were many since they were so close to the International District) and flipped through the menu with the phone in front of both of them.

They got one order of pad Thai to share, Alex giving in to Piper's pleas for 2 stars instead of 4 for the spiciness, and a large order of red chicken curry. She had to fight pretty hard to detach the blonde from herself but finally got out of her death grip to get the food from the lobby. Piper remained face down on the bed when she heard the door open and the smell of food filled the small apartment. She sat upright and reached her hands out while flexing her fingers which earned her a look from the brunette but she handed her the food anyways. She immediately dove into the curry, slurping loudly and ignoring it when Alex shook her head at the lack of manners.

"Don't judge me." She mumbled through a mouthful of rice and grabbed the Xbox controller to put on a show for them to watch while they ate in bed. They couldn't decide on a show to watch so Piper had the idea to play Call of Duty together. They played Zombies and ended up making the perfect team, Piper learning that Alex was really good at video games despite having a console of her own. Piper snapped at Alex a couple times for not reviving her in time and the brunette just chuckled, understanding that her girlfriend wasn't at her best today, successfully holding back her retort that _you're the one that died in the first place._

Eventually Piper got mad enough to shut off the Xbox mid game and Alex bit back her smirk and held in the protests as Piper put on a chick flick that she knew would end in tears.

They fell asleep together, not caring that it was Sunday and Alex wouldn't be able to go home before work tomorrow, still giddy enough to whisper repeated _I love yous_ as they huddled under the covers.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**

 **Sorry for the delay, my classes started back up and it's already a lot to handle. I'll probably write more on weekends now but it just depends on my motivation level. I promise I won't just up and leave you guys.**

 **The reviews definitely give me motivation to keep writing, so thanks a ton for those! And of course the favorites and follows.**

 **Sorry for any typos, I figured I should get this out soon before I start on the mountain of homework that I already have.**

 **Edit: I've gotten a couple disappointed reviews and just want to clear things up really quick: This chapter is pretty much a set up for talking about their relationship and how it's going to work after the internship, etc. This is mostly from Piper's point of view so you guys don't know what's going on in Alex's head but just want to clear up that she isn't being super shallow, she's just struggling with how they're in different places and this chapter was kind of a reminder for Alex. Anyways, the next chapter will hopefully clear things up but let's be honest, engineers aren't the best at talking about feelings from my experience so I felt like their weird argument and Piper's unnecessary apologies kind of fit in here.**

It was the next Monday that Piper ran into one of her classmates. The Mechanical Engineering department at Seattle U was pretty small, so she knew just about everyone her age that shared her major. His name was Connor and he was a basketball player for the school. At SU, basketball was the equivalent to football at other schools since they didn't have their own football team. She was on her way into the office when she ran into Connor, and they stopped and talked for a few minutes before parting ways. Piper learned that he was also doing an internship in Bellevue and they decided that they would grab lunch together at the deli about half way between their buildings. Piper didn't have many friends from school so she always jumped at opportunities to get to know her classmates better.

Alex and Piper were definitely still in the honeymoon stage of their relationship. Piper made up questions that they both knew she already knew the answers to just to get Alex into her cubicle. It always surprised the blonde how much of a sap her girlfriend could be yet 5 seconds later she was almost a completely different person, overflowing with confidence and radiating that badass vibe.

The trips between cubicles continued all morning until about 11:45 hit.

"What do you want to do for lunch?" Alex was standing just outside of Piper's cubicle.

"Oh! Actually I ran into a guy from my Mechanics of Materials class last quarter and we were gonna catch up for lunch. Is that okay?"

"Umm... Yeah that's cool. I'll get lunch with Nicky." Alex was gone before Piper could respond. She found it a little strange but figured she just went to find Nicky.

Connor was already at a table when she got to the cafe.

"Hey!" She greeted her classmate and took a seat across from him.

"Hey Piper. How has your day been?" HE sounded really genuine and it put Piper in a good mood. They made small talk for about 30 minutes and munched on sandwiches, chatting about what classes they were planning on taking and which professors they were hoping to avoid. Lunch went by quickly and Piper gave her classmate a one armed hug before sauntering back to her building. She went to Alex's cubicle first, deciding to stop by and ask how her lunch was.

"Hey Al, how was lunch with Nicky?" Alex had her headphones in and pulled out the left one briefly, looking over her shoulder at the blonde.

"It was good." She returned her headphone to her ear and went back to writing the email she had been working on. Piper frowned at the short response and lack of reciprocation but returned to her cubicle and got back to her own task. About an hour after lunch she returned to Alex's cubicle.

"Hey Alex can you help me with writing this spec?" She had her headphones in again and didn't even remove one this time.

"Piper, we both know you are capable of writing a spec without help." She went back to what she was working on and Piper noticed her typing was a little more forceful than normal. Piper stood there for about 30 seconds, almost expecting Alex to laugh and tell her she was joking but she never did so the blonde returned for her desk.

 _What the fuck? Does she not want to be coupley around the office? Have I been annoying her all day with these questions?_ Piper sat and frowned at her computer before it finally hit her. The two of them had spent their lunch breaks together since the first day she arrived at Hermann and she totally ditched her for a guy from her class. She didn't know if she should return to apologize but decided to hold off, not wanting to make matters any worse or cause a scene. She had seen Alex mad before but never mad at her, and didn't know what was coming.

The loud clacking of Alex's keyboard was a constant reminder of her mistake, reverberating off the cubicle walls and almost causing the blonde to flinch, the harsh tapping of the keys mocking her as she sat and tried to focus.

The day droned on forever. Piper had a few real questions that she needed to ask Alex but out of fear she sat and stared at her screen, to afraid to confront her girlfriend. She knew she was putting off the inevitable, so when Alex got up to go to the bathroom Piper counted to 10 and then followed her.

Alex was clearly fuming as she washed her hands when Piper walked in. She leaned against the door and spoke up.

"Alex, what's wrong?" She was 99% sure she knew but she needed Alex to say it in case bringing it up would just add gas to the fire.

"Nothing's wrong." Alex made a move for the door but Piper stood her ground.

"Alex."

"I have work to do, Piper." Her tone made it clear that something _was_ wrong. Piper contemplated what to say for a few seconds before she was interrupted by the quickest kiss on the lips Alex had ever given her and she was gently pushed away from the door and left gawking as she watched her girlfriend walk away. This was really unlike Alex. Piper didn't even know she could hurt this woman that seemed to be made of steel but her emotions were clear just by the look in her eyes. _Did I actually make her jealous? Is that even possible?_

Their next interaction was at the end of the day.

"Hey I'm gonna head home. You fine to take the bus?" This was the first time since they started dating that Alex hadn't offered a ride to the blonde.

"Uhh, yeah... That's fine. Can we talk first?" Her voice sounded foreign to her, about an octave higher and somewhat shaky. She absolutely hated confrontation and usually was able to avoid it, but clearly Alex wasn't going to break the ice here so she took matters into her own hands.

Alex sighed loudly and pushed her glasses on top of her head then crossed her arms. This seemed like as much of an invitation as she would get so Piper continued.

"Can we go outside?" Clearly this wasn't an appropriate conversation to have in the middle of an office with coworkers eavesdropping through cubicle walls.

Alex didn't respond, simply walking to the elevator as Piper half jogged to keep up with her long angry strides. When they got outside Alex just stopped and waited for Piper to speak. The blonde took a deep breath and took the plunge.

"Alex I'm sorry for not having lunch with you. I know that's our thing. I'm sorry." It wasn't quite as elegant as she wanted to sound but her heart was pounding against her chest. All she wanted was for Alex to smile and laugh with her like they usually do.

"I don't care about lunch, Piper." Her tone was icy and it matched her eyes.

 _Okay, clearly you do you fucking liar._ Piper knew she was in the wrong here but she couldn't help the sarcastic thoughts that were running through her head. That fucking temper.

"Can we just be real here Alex?" She paused, trying to gather her thoughts before she fucked this up with her temper. "I ditched you for someone else and that was shitty and I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it." Her tone was cautious, as if one wrong word would set off the ticking time bomb in front of her.

"You didn't even think about it, that's nice." Alex spat, looking away from the blonde and flexing her jaw muscles. Piper couldn't help but stare at the brunette's face, admiring it's structure.

"You know what I mean, Alex. Obviously I'm not interested in anyone else. I just don't have a lot of friends at school..." She trailed off, embarrassed at her lack of college friends. Everyone else had groups that they studied and partied with but Piper never seemed to get past a smile in the quad or a head nod in the engineering building. It made her uncomfortable to talk about it with someone she admired so much.

Alex sighed and looked down, as if she was picking up on what was going through Piper's head. She probably was, she seemed to be able to read Piper's mind at all times. It was nice sometimes but times like this it made her feel vulnerable.

"I get it. It was just kind of shitty." She almost sounded ashamed of herself now.

"It was shitty. I know. I'm sorry Alex. I just didn't think..." She trailed off again. "I guess I didn't think you would care."

Alex let out a short huff of laughter, causing Piper's brow to crinkle as she looked up at the brunette. She was looking at the girl again but this time the iciness in her green eyes was replaced with lovingness.

"I care, Pipes." The use of her nickname made Piper feel like a ton of bricks was lifted off her chest. "You know I care, right? Like, a lot. I love you."

Piper bit her lip to hide her smile, knowing that even though she fucked up this woman was still telling her she loved her.

"I love you too, Al. So much. I'm sorry for being an asshole." She let her smile show now, hoping it would be the last rung in the ladder to forgiveness.

"It's okay. Asshole." Alex laughed and Piper's smile grew so big it hurt her cheeks. She never thought being called an asshole would feel this good but Alex clearly wasn't as mad anymore so she would take what she could get. "Come on, I'll drive you home, kid."

When they got to Piper's place Alex paid for 4 hours of parking without saying a word. Piper saw that the slip lasted 4 hours and became giddy knowing she would be able to spend time with her girlfriend even after the turn of events that day.

When Piper unlocked her door she didn't even have time to take off a shoe before she found herself pressed against the wall. Alex's mouth was on hers in split seconds, tongue pushing its way inside without a bit of hesitation. Piper was honestly stunned, not even kissing back as she tried to wrap her head around what was going on. Alex's hand rose to the back of her neck and she turned her head to deepen the kiss and Piper finally focused enough to kiss her back. The kiss was hungry and demanding, almost desperate. The brunettes left hand found its way down to Piper's skirt, unzipping it quickly and trying to tug it down only to be stuck as Piper's ass was still pressed into the mattress.

"Lift your ass up." Alex demanded, her voice husky as she spoke against the girl's lips. Piper did as she was told, partly out of fear and partly out of desire for whatever was coming next. She was pretty sure she knew what was coming, though. Alex surprised the blonde by tugging her panties and skirt down at the same time. Usually Alex was completely calculated and took things slow, working the blonde until she had no choice but to ask Alex to fuck her. This time Alex was quick and frantic.

Two of her long fingers were inside of Piper forcefully, suddenly, eliciting a mix between a gasp and a moan and a cry from the blonde. Alex swallowed the sound as she removed her fingers slowly, almost completely, before delving them back in powerfully. The blonde's breaths were coming in loud gasps as Alex repeated the motion, picking up speed without abandon. Piper was getting the feeling that Alex was trying to prove something. And it was working. Her heart was pounding so forcefully that she was sure Alex could feel and hear it. She let out a loud moan and immediately felt Alex's other hand covering her mouth, squeezing her cheeks hard enough to be a little bit painful but it just amplified the affects of the fingers flying in and out of her. Alex completely removed her fingers for about half a second before returning them and adding a third. Piper's hips were bucking into the contact without rhythm and she felt like Alex's puppet, completely out of control of her own body. She didn't realize her eyes had been closed but when she opened them she moaned even louder at the look in the brunettes eyes. They were dark and serious. Predatory.

Piper could feel herself tightening around Alex's fingers almost painfully, once, twice, three times and then felt a thumb press down hard on her clit, sending her over the edge immediately. Her eyes clamped shut and she bit down on Alex's hand without even realizing it, screaming into the woman's palm. Her toes curled and she arched her back as Alex continued thrusting into her as if nothing was happening. She opened her eyes and saw the defined muscles in the brunettes arm, knowing that she probably wasn't even close to tired even after the rough, constant thrusting of her arm like a piston. Her muscles began to relax and her ears were ringing, her own frantic breathing sounding muffled in her ears.

Her eyes widened as she realized Alex wasn't stopping the constant thrusting. In fact she was picking up speed if that was even possible at this point. Her thumb was no longer on her clit knowing that it would be hypersensitive for a while. Alex's hand left Piper's mouth and roughly snaked up under her shirt and bra, pinching her nipple hard enough to sting but the pain was more than welcome. She was now biting and sucking at the blonde's pulse point drawing out desperate whimpers from the girl under her. Piper's ears were still ringing from her first orgasm but the second was coming quickly. The thrusting with Alex's left hand was slowing down but becoming more and more forceful, causing Piper's body to jerk with each movement. A thumb was on her clit again and it sent her over the edge immediately. Alex bit down harder on her neck as Piper shouted out the first syllable of her name before becoming completely silent. She felt Alex's thumb flick against her clit in the midst of her orgasm and her whole body jerked at the painful yet perfect contact. Her second orgasm subsided and before she could catch her breath she was grabbed by her hips and tugged to the edge of her bed so her ass was barely hanging off. Alex was on her knees at the foot of the bed and her tongue licked a firm line from her opening all the way up and past her clit, reaching the blonde's belly button. Alex groaned and repeated the action once more before her tongue entered Piper. The blonde's hands found their way into Alex's hair, knowing that a break wouldn't be given even if she requested one.

If Alex was trying to prove something she was doing a hell of a job.

Alex's tongue was drawing wide circles around Piper's clit now, one finger slowly pushing back inside of her now swollen pussy. The sound of fingers and tongue against her moisture filled the room, quickly drowned out by loud moans. Piper wrapped her right arm around her own face, leaving the left tangled in black locks of hair as she bit down on her forearm to try to shut herself up. She felt her stomach muscles tightening up again as the brunette added a second finger back inside of her. She could feel her own moisture dripping down her ass as Alex desperately lapped at her clit and she shoved the brunettes face even further between her now quivering legs. Alex groaned again and sucked her clit into the mouth and Piper's whole body twitched. She could taste blood in her mouth from how hard she bit down on her own forearm as she came, her whole body jerking uncontrollably.

...

Piper woke up the next morning completely nude and tangled up in the brunettes limbs. There was a blanket somewhere in the room but it was nowhere to be seen. Apparently the two of them fought over the lone grey sheet in their sleep because it was barely covering Alex's ass and Piper was wrapped up tightly in it from her waist down. She groggily turned her head and looked around the room that looked like it had been hit by a tornado.

Her handprints that were on the window from when Alex shoved her against it and took her from behind.

The office chair that had tipped over when she finally got a turn to pleasure Alex but teased her so bad that she thrashed her legs and kicked it over.

The blanket was visible from her new position but had apparently been forfeited due to the amount of sweat and both of their cum that dampened it.

Her right arm was sore from the nonstop thrusting and she could only imagine how both of the brunette's arms felt.

She reached up to rub her hand down her face and flinched as her hand reached her nose, which she now remembered was sore from when Alex knotted both hands into her hair and rode her face so _fucking_ hard.

Alex's bra was draped over the wall mounted TV and Piper's destroyed shirt sat on the kitchen counter. Alex must have a thing for ruining Piper's clothing.

The blonde looked over at the brunette to see her hair covering most of her face, one arm draped around Piper's waist and the other bent under her head as an impromptu pillow, the real ones littering the floor. She turned onto her side and became Alex's little spoon before falling back asleep, briefly thinking that Alex had definitely received another parking ticket before drifting off.


End file.
